Adelaide now has its own larger than life tribute to the late David Bowie with a colourful new mural created by South Australian artist Lisa King.

Recreating the iconic cover Bowie’s 1973 record Aladdin Sane with an extra side of 80s style pink and blue pastels, it took King nine days to transform the northern wall of the Maid and Magpie into a towering portrait of the Starman approximately 11 metres tall.

As King explains, the decision to create her own homage to the legendary singer/songwriter was an obvious choice when her initial plan fell through just before the artist passed. “I initially had a different concept because it had to be finalised by the end of last year,” King tells ripitup.com.au. “But the photo I was using for reference, the photographer had some funniness with the girl’s management.

“So it just worked out that I was going to have to do another concept, and at that time Bowie had just passed away,” King says. “None of the murals had really popped up [at that point]. Jimmy C who I’m friends with did one quite some time ago in Brixton,” she says of the London piece that became a de facto public memorial in the wake of Bowie’s death.

“It kind of hit me and I thought it would be awesome to paint him.”

“Bowie’s been a part of everyone’s life,” King says. “I’ve been brought up with him, my parents are English and my Dad looks uncannily like him when he was younger – to the point I was going to use my dad [for the mural].”

The work is part of the Adelaide Fringe’s Street Art Explosion, which has seen a range of Adelaide artists take their work to prominent walls around the city, from Beyond Killa’s paint job on new Eliza Street cafe and wine bar Mama Jambo to a loving tribute to one of the East End’s living treasures Frank the barber. Along with commissioning the art, the initiative includes a digital component that allows Fringe goers to find out more information on each work by simply downloading the app and scanning the wall.

King also turned heads last year with her similarly colourful reinvention of Hindley Street live music hotspot Jive. But the Adelaide Fringe project in conjunction with the Maid and Magpie offered her a uniquely sprawling canvas. “It’s probably my largest, the Jive wall was pretty big but in terms of a solid piece it’s the largest portrait I’ve done.”

King will also feature as part of a group exhibition dedicated to Bowie due to open at Urban Cow Studio on Monday, March 7, with work from Pip Kruger, Tracy Chaplin, Brendan Garrett and more.

We’re not sure if a little ‘Gaming’ hat was ever part of Bowie’s 1973-era stage outfit, but otherwise it’s pretty spot on

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