Here's everyone

Artists in the media, from North & South magazine

Artist Dali Susanto’s Hastings mural depicts the diversity of the local community.

If you’ve been to Hastings recently, your attention might have been grabbed by a mural on the wall beside the Hastings Sports Centre. The 20-metre-long wall is covered in colourful abstract portraits based on the Hastings community.

“I tried to put everyone into the artwork, into the mural,” says artist Dali Susanto. “So that way, it can remind everyone that we are living in harmony in Hawke’s Bay.”

Indonesia-born Susanto, who came to New Zealand in 2007, spent his early life surrounded by artists, as his family in Indonesia owned batik galleries, selling paintings and + RESENE teaching tourists the art.

“We’ve got lots of pattern and I often put the patterns into my work,” he says. “I use the patterns and everything my uncle showed me how to paint in Indonesia. I use that skill here.”

He used Resene paint for the mural. The bold Resene colours lend themselves to his work, and he also appreciates the paint’s longlasting qualities, as proven on the year-old Hastings work and other outdoor murals. “It’s a really good quality paint, and the quality lasts a long time.”

Susanto also works on canvas, and has recently taken to adorning leather jackets with metallic gold Resene paint.

His work is often inspired by his everyday life, and is a way to express what he feels in the moment. “It’s like if you are a writer and then you write everything in a book, pretty much I let it out through my paintings.”

He says Resene testpots have been a huge asset in his painting. He particularly appreciates the clear tops that allow him to see the colour before opening the pot. “I don’t want to open it up and have a look of what colour inside because I don’t have time for that,” he says. “You can see what’s inside it and the name of it which is so good.”

Susanto says that his favourite Resene colour to work with is “Resene Buttercup”, because its shade and name are both “just on point”

Dali uses a predominance of Resene Black and White as well as these striking colours

For more of Dali’s work, see Instagram @DaliSusanto. Photos by Charlotte Anderson.

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