Melbourne artist Kitt Bennett has splashed ‘hundreds’ of litres of paint in the Darwin CBD

A stunning massive mural combining a crocodile, Hawaiian shirt and a skeleton has appeared in an empty city car park. We reveal the artist behind the innovative Darwin Street Art Festival project.

IF you have stopped for a red light at the Cavenagh and Daly St intersection in Darwin during the past fortnight, the odds are your eyes have wandered off to the empty lot and thought, “what’s that all about?”.

A seismic mural of a skeleton who looks like a holiday maker has appeared in an empty car park in the Darwin CBD for the Darwin Street Art Festival

Melbourne artist Kitt Bennett has worked on many large scale murals, he calls his style “illustrative”. Picture: Floss Adams.

Talented Melbourne artist Kitt Bennett said his mural Stay Grounded was about “impermanence”.

The mural started out as just a skeleton but then a crocodile Hawaiian shirt and flesh were added.

“I really wanted to conceptually grow the mural and not just paint it, so it tells a bit of a story; growing from earth like we grow from earth and one day it will wear down and return to earth,” Mr Bennett said.

“So it’s a little piece about impermanence and living in the moment.”

The approximately 75m long painting took a fortnight to paint, using large rollers and a leaf blower to remove rocks from the surface, Mr Bennett estimated the mural took a “couple hundred” litres of paint.

“The surface here is so thirsty and I’m watering the paint down heaps and it’s also multiple layers,” he said.

Stay Grounded is the first mural Mr Bennett has painted in Darwin but he says it won’t be the last. Picture: Floss Adams.

Mr Bennett said the space came with its complications that demanded him to improvise, having to call in a concrete truck and fill in large gaps of missing concrete filled with dirt.

“So the complexity is often to do with actually fitting images in the space,” He said.

“One of the biggest complexities with this one was the heat and sort of making sure I was being smart about working and not just exhausting myself.”

Mr Bennett thanked his DSAF helper Jordan Conrad for his extra set of hands in helping him finish the large scale mural on time.

Mr Bennett and Mr Conrad work together to get the job done. Picture: Floss Adams.

“It’s been quicker because of Jordan, he’s a weapon,” he said

“I’m ready to be finished with it but the whole thing has been super enjoyable, it’s been a great experience so far, I really loved it.”

Originally published as Melbourne artist Kitt Bennett has splashed ‘hundreds’ of litres of paint in the Darwin CBD