A ROCHFORD artist who has worked with the likes of Kylie and Paul McCartney has been making a splash of colour in Southend with an impressive street display.

Dan Kitchener, 46, took inspiration from visits and his photographs in Japan for the work,called Akihabara after the district in the country.

He was approached by bosses of the Southend Arts Festival and jumped at the chance of creating the painting on the side of The Mews pub in Southend.

In his wide ranging career he’s worked on animations and videos for stars such as Miley Cyrus, Kylie and Paul McCartney as well as companies such as Sony and Sega.

He said: “A lot of my work is inspired by Japan and rainy scenes in New York or London and other places I’ve been lucky enough to visit but Japan is a big part and theme of my work.

“It’s somewhere I am passionate about and felt it would fit well in Southend and wanted to bring the beauty, colour and vibrancy of that culture to the town.

“It took me about three days and I do usually work that quick and have dance music on and drink lots of espresso. I don’t want it to be too static and want to add the energy to it.

Echo:

“I do it all freehand and start from one point with a main person or focus and the rest just flows from there. The response has been phenomenal and so positive with so many messages from people about it.

“It’s a huge canvas and a great challenge so it’s a real privilege to be on board with such an exciting project”

He said people are pleased to see some larger street art in the town and lots of residents tell him they are going to pay a visit to see it.

Dan, who is also know as Dank, painted the mural between September 15 and 19 on the side wall of The Mews in the Clarence Road Car Park in Southend.

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He said he can change the design as he paints uf the wall or area needs it or if there’s a window or door.

He added: “I’ve had a wide ranging career and working with Miley Cyrus, Kylie and Paul McCartney on music videos and animations for tours and performances. I did that for about 12 years working on visuals for big screens as well as television production too.

“I’ve also worked in Dubai and many other places and with companies such as Sony and Sega on project for new games. I’ve also worked with the Tate Modern and Versace Gallery too.”