BLUE NOTE

Pāuatahanui, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand · 2021

The mural Blue Note, commissioned in 2021, is located at The Morgans, a private estate, boutique nine-hole golf course and expansive public Art Park in the Pāuatahanui hills north of Wellington, New Zealand.

Set against the expansive green of a rolling golf course and restored native landscape, this large-scale outdoor mural transforms a deep Bordeaux-red building into a vivid counterpoint to its natural surroundings. Once ordinary, the structure now serves as a dedicated jazz performance venue. Every element of the composition pulses with kinetic energy: figures lean and interlock, their bodies compressed against one another to evoke the collective pulse of improvisation. Even the pianist is granted six fingers, an exaggeration that heightens the sense of frenetic motion. Floating kiwi cocktails, one perched above the entrance, anchor the scene firmly in Aotearoa, signalling that this jazz moment unfolds on New Zealand soil. The result is a celebration of rhythm, place and the infectious vitality of live music.