Inspired street art is just a wall away

Street artist Mikaere Gardiner is filmed as he begins a mural on the old Chronicle building. PICTURE/STUART MUNRO

Wanganui's historic buildings are the perfect canvas for street art, according to a street artist who has been working in the city recently.

Wanganui-born, Raurimu-based Mikaere Gardiner's huge, mechanical pieces have started popping up on walls in the Old Town section of Wanganui's central business district.

"I think there's currently four-and-a-half," Mr Gardiner told the Wanganui Chronicle yesterday.

"There's one on the old Chronicle building [corner of Drews Ave and Rutland St] that I've started but haven't been able to finish yet."

Mr Gardiner's latest work is a pair of large rats running up the side of a brick building in Taupo Quay.

This work references an even larger cat mural that can be glimpsed from the Taupo Quay site.

Mr Gardiner said Wanganui's "lovely old architecture" lends itself to street art.

"There's so much raw history here. There's this perfect narrative between the old canvas and the contemporary art."

PICTURE/STUART MUNRO

Mr Gardiner rejects the "tagger" label but is open about the notoriety he gained in 2011 when he was revealed as the artist behind a series of street art posters popping up around New Plymouth. At the time, he was employed by the New Plymouth District Council.

"It was written into our contracts that we were not to have anything to do with any form of graffiti. I was probably naive - I thought my art would speak for itself."

He said he was lucky not to be fired.

These days, Mr Gardiner's murals grace walls in towns and cities throughout the North Island. Sometimes he approaches a building owner to get permission to paint on a wall, but sometimes he's asked by a building owner or tenant.

"I don't make much money from it. I do more traditional 'inside' artwork as well, and that's how I make most of my money."

He studied art formally at Massey University, UCOL and WITT, but said street art has always inspired him.

"I just love being able to communicate with people directly," he said.