An Australian street artist has brightened up one of Aberdeen city centre’s darker spots with vibrant neon paint.
Internationally-renowned artist Vexta visited the city to transform the drab tunnel beneath St Nicholas Square as part of the hugely popular Nuart initiative.
The instillation is the last piece of artwork to be added to the city as part of this year’s festival, with the rest of the projects being unveiled in April.
The director of the annual event, Martyn Reed, said: “We’re incredibly proud and happy to present a new work for Nuart.
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“There simply aren’t enough opportunities to work with female street artists and Vexta has an immediately recognisable style and technique that makes her ideal for a project like this.”
Vexta is a self-taught artist from Sydney, whose distinctive work has been emblazoned on buildings from Melbourne to Mexico.
She explained that the design in the tunnels forms part of a series linking cities across the world.
The artist said: “This piece is part of a series that I am doing in cities I love all over the world, to me it was just about bringing the sun and the stars into this underground environment.”
Mr Reed and Vexta met several years ago in Brooklyn, and she made the trip to Scotland initially after being commissioned to do some work for the Bladnoch whisky distillery.
Vexta got in contact with Mr Reed offering to add to Aberdeen’s collection of street art, and – after two days of work alongside owner of the Tunnels music venue owner Steve Morris and Aberdeen artist Mary Butterworth – the mural was completed.
Mr Morris has refitted all the lights in the underground walkway outside of his establishment with coloured filters especially for the installation.
