Moonlit Mud

Artwork Name: Moonlit Mud

Artist Name: Paul Walsh

Location: 1121 Eruera Street

Medium: Painted mural

This stylised view of Rotorua at night was inspired by lithographic prints of the 1850s-1950s, which were used as popular advertisements of New Zealand’s beautiful scenery.

Limited to a palette of blue, black and yellow, Paul Walsh created a nostalgic view of a Rotorua evening, showing Lake Rotorua, Mokoia, Mount Ngongotahā and Whakarewarewa, where mud steams and bubbles in the foreground and cartoon-like clouds and moon fill the sky.

Paul Walsh’s entry in the 2017 Rotorua Mural Symposium, is reminiscent of the popular lithographic prints of the 1850s-1950s, that used a limited palette of colours.

Credit: Paul Walsh, Moonlit Mud, 2017. Commissioned by Rotorua Lakes Council.

About the artist: Born and raised in Rotorua, self-taught artist, Paul Walsh, is now based in Auckland.

A full-time artist since 2012, Walsh works in a range of mediums, from spray paint to watercolour. His art has been featured on Newshub, Radio NZ and Seven Sharp. Since 2013, Walsh has painted over 70 of Chorus’ cabinets all around New Zealand.