On the hunt for painted faces

LOCALS IMMORTALISED: The figure, based on 15th century painter Sandro Botticelli's Venus, is at the centre of the drama in the late Graeme Mudge's beachfront Eastland Triathlon and Multi Sport Club shed mural. File picture

Several Gisborne and East Coast locals feature in the late Graeme Mudge's murals and former Gisborne Herald arts reporter Mark Peters is keen to identify as many as possible for a book about Mudge's murals.

Among characters in the murals Peters is particularly interested in identifying is the athlete whose arrival on a scallop shell sparks such a stir among competitors in the beachfront Eastland Triathlon and Multi Sport Club shed.

Based on the central figure in 15th century artist Sandro Botticelli's painting, The Birth of Venus, Mudge cast the goddess as an unselfconscious arrival and centre of attention.

The sartorial young Māori man at the centre of the Gisborne District Council mural (now digitalised and located by the Lawson Field Theatre) also looks familiar, Peters says.

“I'm pretty sure I know who that might be but would like to hear from anyone who knows for sure.”

The young blonde girl, apparently smitten by the barefooted young gent, might also be the same girl who hands an apple to a customer in the Farmers' Market mural.

“The Farmers' Market mural was painted in 2001,” Peters says.

“If the girl is based on a real person she must be in her late 20s by now. I'm keen to hear her story about her connection with the mural or murals.”

Peters believes many of the characters in the steam train mural on a roadside in Watson Park are based on real people and would like to know who they are as well.

But really, he says, he'd like to identify as many people as possible in all the murals and hear their stories.

Peters can be contacted at markpeters@xtra.co.nz, or text 021 0877 1865