Painted to honour New York icon Jean-Michel Basquiat, US Correspondent Logan Church met up with Kiwi artist Owen Dippie at a mural that is already turning heads.
In a trendy, lower Manhattan neighbourhood, New Zealand artist Owen Dippie has become somewhat of a local celebrity.
We met on a street corner; underneath a giant mural Dippie's painted onto the side of one of Bowery’s many brick buildings – a painting so high it dominates the intersection at six stories tall.
Within minutes, a couple walking past strike up a conversation about how impressive the piece is. Another simply says 'thank you'.
It’s not so much the mural itself – which, even to those of us with little artistic talent, is deeply impressive, it’s the man that Dippie’s painted on this mural, that’s quite literally stopping people in the streets – New York artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat.
In a trendy, lower Manhattan neighbourhood, New Zealand artist Owen Dippie has become somewhat of a local celebrity. (Source: 1News)
"I was introduced to his work from my high school art teacher when I was thirteen and it immediately had a profound impact on my life," Dippie said.
Basquiat is legendary in the New York art scene. Born in Brooklyn, by the mid-1980s his art was famous not just in a rapidly changing New York City, but around the world.
A city that had struggled through an economic crisis in the 1970s, this period saw a creative explosion, particularly in the poorer neighbourhoods where artists could still afford to live.
For Basquiat, his distinctive style, heavily influenced by graffiti culture, found an audience in an art world traditionally dominated by white artists.
He formed a close friendship with Andy Warhol, who leased him an apartment on 57 Great Jones St, where Dippie’s mural now stands proudly beside.
"I first visited the city in 2006 and my tourist thing was to come to 57 Great Jones Street and pay my respects to an artist that had such a huge impact on my upbringing," said Dippie, describing it as a 'pilgrimage'.
"I've since visited the city so many times, and...in 2024, I was here again, standing outside number 57 and seeing the wall and just how incredible it would be to honour my hero, my childhood hero, my fellow painter...bring him back in his old neighbourhood, but ultimately pay my respects from painter to painter."
Despite his success, Basquiat struggled with drug addiction. He died following a drug overdose aged 27.
Every city I go kind of thing, my eyes are like, I'm always looking at possible things to paint. But yeah, this one, like I said, it's like sacred ground given he lived and died here.
Dippie, who self-funded the project, had a long list of logistical challenges to overcome before he could even pick up a spray can or move in a scissor-lift. There were building preservation committees, securing permits, talking to local businesses, and finding a temporary home for the cars that used the small carpark at the base of the building.
The project itself took almost a month, hindered in part due to the temperamental Autumn weather.
"It's been beautiful to talk to the people of New York and of this neighbourhood, interacting with people and hearing their thoughts - and people that lived here when Jean-Michel [lived here]." said Dippie.
"So just hearing the different stories from ex-girlfriends to ex-[art] dealers to friends to everyday people that don't even know who Jean-Michel Basquiat was.
"It's an honour to be able to continue keeping his spirit alive."
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