The mural is the work of celebrated New Zealand street artist Owen Dippie, who visited Wollongong at the weekend as part the monthly Project Crown Outdoor Gallery. 

Dippie is known for his large-scale, realistic portraits on the streets of New York, Los Angeles and his homeland.

He often looks to history, pop culture and Maori tattooing for inspiration, with renaissance painters and Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring among his past subjects.

Bowie took form over the weekend on the walls of a boarded-up shop space left vacant late last year, when David Jones consolidated its store on the mall’s southern side. 

Wollongong Central General Manager Dennis Price said the portraits would be the first of a series of semi-permanent works. 

“We expect the changing nature of the artists and artworks will reflect the ongoing transformation of the city centre in the coming months,” he said. “To have an artist of Dippie’s stature produce a work specifically for us is a coup for the city. We encourage people to come out and enjoy the magic of his portraiture.”