Mushroom Park’s massive mural

Sandton residents have come to love the Mushroom Farm Park with its lush green lawns, clean pathways and surprisingly abundant bird life.

It offers residents and business people in the area a chance to escape the sometimes maddening rush of the Sandton CBD.

Barrow Properties, developers of the new luxury apartment block, Metropolis on Park, took inspiration from this little patch of heaven and have incorporated a 15 metre-long mural, constructed from galvanised wire, at the entrance of the building.

The artist in charge, Gina Waldman was given the challenging opportunity of creating a concept that would add to the contemporary look and feel of the new building. “One of the most important things about the Metropolis is the views, so I sat in the park for a few hours and then came up with the idea of representing the park in a panoramic view.”

The process of completing an artwork of this magnitude takes a lot of preparation and planning, and Waldman had to print out the whole mural to scale before her team could get to work on planning and bending the wire to match the image.

“Where my team really showed innovation was how they interpreted the different textures of my drawing. Where my lines were very fluid, they made the wire very fluid.”

Elias Bwanya specialises in wire art and assisted in creating the mural. “It’s the largest project I have ever worked on, and it took us over a month to complete,” he said proudly.

Bwanya added that once the mural was finally up, they decided to add some extra features and textures, including some ‘Picasso-esque’ hadeda birds.

Artists Peter Kazowa and Patrick Phiri, also local wire artists, were involved in the project as well and Weldman said she was amazed by their interpretations of her idea. “I am very happy with the way my team brought their own aesthetic into the work. If the work had a more linear feel, it wouldn’t have been as exciting.”

Details: 011 469 0705.