Pedestrians tilted their heads as they walked past the Jean Coutu store on Montreal’s Notre-Dame Street Monday morning.
The store’s exterior wall is in the process of getting a massive mural. Though it’s still in its early stages, a towering head and shoulders can be seen reaching out in the painting.
Many people are trying to guess who the person in the painting is, said mural artist Andreas von Chrzanowski.
“People try to guess who the person is. That’s the question we get every day,” Chrzanowski said.
Chances are you won’t recognize the person because it is the face of one of the assistant artists working on the project.
Andreas von Chrzanowski, better know as CASE Maclaim, works alongside his wife, Samira von Chrzanowski.
The married German couple has been working together for more than 10 years.
They started the Montreal project at the beginning of August and were brought to the city by local non-profit organization MU.
MU has been painting brick walls in the city since 2007. The downtown portrait of deceased local singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen was the organization’s hundredth public mural, MU executive director Elizabeth-Ann Doyle said.
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Doyle said she chose the von Chrzanowskis because of their mix of photorealism and surrealism.
The Saint-Henri mural is far from finished. Only three days into the job, the mural is simply a draft.
The finished product will be very detailed, the artists say. The painting will depict a man reaching out into a scene with nature and animals.
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The paint is expected to dry on the completed piece by the end of the month.
The German couple has a strict deadline, as they will leave Montreal to work on their next project once the mural is finished.
“We’re German so we are always on time,” Samira said.