WATCH THIS SPACE: CRACKED INK
Untitled
Artist Cracked Ink
Date December 2017
Location Hereford Street
Sweeping across the exterior wall of the famous Micky Finn’s Irish Pub on Hereford Street, a cacophony of Whanganui artist Cracked Ink’s signature characters play out a range of stories. The black and white mural, contrasting with the red terracotta brick, rises and falls across the wall, revealing a repeating and replaying narrative that echoes the undulating wave that breaks up the rigid geometry of the brickwork. Produced as part of 2017’s Street Prints Ōtautahi event (jointly presented by Street Prints and the YMCA), the work playfully features lightning bolts, rain clouds, hot air balloons, decapitated robots, and an array of creatures, some apparently mid-song, others literally cross-eyed, the viewer invited to parse out the goings-on. The rolling composition is a reminder of the way winds blow fiercely through Christchurch’s gridded inner-city streets, with Cracked Ink’s characters swept up and carried away in a fanciful flight.
Explore more of Ōtautahi’s urban art on a Watch This Space guided street art tour! Email tours@watchthisspace.org.nz for booking information.