EXCLUSIVE: Why This Sydney George Michael Mural Holds Special Meaning To Residents

Having gained notoriety with his Kanye Loves Kanye and Casino Mike murals last year, street artist Scott Marsh is at it again, this time with a huge St. George mural in Sydney following pop star and gay icon George Michael's death late last year.

Popping up on social media yesterday, the huge 20 foot mural, about the same size as his Kanye mural, lives at the corner of Bray Street and Flora Street in St. Peters.

Speaking exclusively to The Music, Marsh explains it actually holds special significance to the residents of the building. 

"The guys who live in that building, they were both friends with George Michael and I had already been speaking with them about painting their wall. They offered their wall up to me a while ago and I hadn't gotten around to it yet.

"They were telling me stories about him and their times with him in Sydney and he sounded like a pretty incredible person, so I just sat down with them and threw some ideas around. The idea we stuck with was him as the patron saint of the gays," Marsh laughs. "They love it."

Marsh says it took a day and a half to sketch and paint, and he would've had it done earlier had it not been for Sydney's heatwave. 

"I finished it yesterday and I was there almost all day yesterday, from early to about 5pm, and the day before I kinda just sketched it up for a few hours. It was too hot to paint [that day], it was like 44 degrees or something ridiculous so I pulled the pin on that and went for a swim."

Patron saints typically hold something related to them in their hands, so Marsh painted a joint and amyl on Michael. Marsh says, "[His friends] were like, 'I don't think we ever saw him without a joint in his hand, and put amyl in his other hand," and I just thought, that's too funny."

He adds, "[I used] gold metallic spray paint for the halo aura around his head, and there's also metallic in his cross and also in his collar and stuff, so when you go past on the train in the morning, when the sun's kinda hitting it, it glimmers."

 

"St. George" #georgemichael #sydney Better photos tomorrow. #innerwest #sydneystreetart Corner of bray st and flora st in st peters

A photo posted by Scott Marsh (@scottie.marsh) on Jan 11, 2017 at 10:50pm PST