OD- My Favourite Street Artist

While at the Mount I took the chance of shooting a few more of my favourite street artist’s work. OD aka Owen Dippie is a world renowned street artist who I have been following for a few years now. Owen grew up in Mt Maunganui but sadly for the Mount & Tauranga he has recently moved to Auckland which means there won’t be any more random murals appearing around the city’s industrial areas.

These first two are quite visible on the rear of industrial buildings along the main route into Mt Maunganui (they're not from the series)

The Incredible Hulk- which was part of OD's super hero series.

The critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin-

OD will continue to paint, as funds and time allow, commissioned works for the Tauranga City Council’s  ‘Larger than Life’ series. This is one of the five painted so far, it’s hoped that there’ll be 15 works of art eventually placed around the inner city of Tauranga.

From the famous Michelangelo sculpture, The Pieta-

Here is the fifth in the series and last for the time being. We have visited this building many times- our lawyer’s offices were once here!

The ‘Goddess of Love' as seen in Botticelli's 1486 painting ‘The Birth of Venus’-

You must admit this is quite an impressive sight- especially if you wake up and throw open the curtains in the hotel room across the carpark. At 27 metres high and covering six storeys, it’s one of OD biggest works. Although not as large, and in my opinion as wonderful, as my favourite piece of all; The Ballerina, painted on the rear of the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch.

Owen was also commissioned by Tauranga Boys College to paint a series of mural portraits featuring a range of Kiwi heroes that depict the college’s house leaders. It was just as well it was school holidays when I stopped by to check them out.

Sir Apirana Ngata- a Ngati Porou leader and politician, Apirana Ngata is one of New Zealand's best-known figures. As MP for Eastern Maori, he worked to strengthen Maori communities and revive Maori culture.

Moana Nui a Kiwa Ngarimu- a New Zealand soldier and posthumous recipient in 1943 of the Victoria Cross. He was also the first Maori to receive this honour.

Sir Edmund Hillary- a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Sir Bernard Freyberg- a British-born soldier and Victoria Cross recipient, who later served as the seventh Governor-General of New Zealand from 1946 to 1952.

Sir Ernest Rutherford- a New Zealand-born British physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics.

Sir Murray Halberg- a former New Zealand middle distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics.

Tauranga Boys College is one of the largest boy's colleges in New Zealand with a roll of over 1,870 pupils. What great role models these famous and outstanding men are for future generations of boys.

You can see more of Owen’s works in this blog post- Girl with a Pearl Earring, which I did a couple of years ago just before we left Tauranga for our life on the road.