Artist captures Noosa’s surfing soul

A curling piece of surfing perfection adorns a Thomas St wall as a tribute to Noosa’s surfing soul.

Artist Andrew Grassi tucks into a barrel he painted onto a wall in Thomas St in Noosaville.

Artist Andrew Grassi has created a perfect wave in one of Noosa’s trendy eat streets.

His curling piece is adorns a Thomas St wall in Noosaville after two weeks of brushstrokes.

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Mr Grassi is known in Noosa as a fine art painter who exhibits his works at the Nissarana Galleries in Hastings St.

His new street art is already turning heads.

His mural is themed on Noosa’s affinity with the ocean and nature with the work swimming with whales, turtles and dolphins.

It also features a koala, in a tribute to animals seen in Laguna Bay and through Noosa National Park’s rugged coastline.

“Ages ago I did a mural down in Manly and they (the Noosa mural owners) really liked my style,” Mr Grassi said.

“They gave me an aerial photograph from Noosaville to Noosa and they said they ‘incorporate that into it, we just want it to feel like Noosa’.

Andrew Grassi shakes paws with a koala on his new mural in Thomas St in Noosaville.

“I had pretty much free rein, I could go to town and the one thing I wanted on there was this perfect wave.”

He painted a crystal tube so onlookers could stand in front of it and look like they’re surfing it.

“I had a good surf one day with one of the locals Gordon and he showed me a couple of secret spots to surf at,” Mr Grassi said.

Mr Grassi captures the essence of Noosa for new street art.

Mr Grassi, who lives and surfs at Avoca Beach, said he was one of those kids who could paint and has been a professional artist since he was 20.

He said he painted one of the koalas at a height so children could reach it as part of the artwork’s interaction.

“It looks like they’re holding him up, I’ve done little things like that,” Mr Grassi said.

He’s now headed to Sydney to do a couple of wall paintings and then two more in Canberra.

But he’s keen to return after making plenty of new friends during his short but productive stay.

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