What You're Looking For
Strip Paintings are works by MintFace, the painter behind The Line gallery... horizontal bands of colour painted onto the fascia signage of the strip's buildings. The trick that makes them belong: every colour is sampled from the street itself... the neighbouring shop signs, the facades, the awnings. Each work is literally made of its own block. And every single one carries one red line. Finding it is your job. Counting where it sits... that's between you and the painting.
The works went up with the blessing of the buildings that host them... art borrowing the street's spare surfaces, the street lending its colours back. Each one is professional acrylics on panel, sealed to live outdoors. More walls join over time, so this tour grows.
The Route
Four works, one street, one crossing. Start at the 200 block end with a coffee, walk west along the north side, duck up the 300 West laneway, cross the main road once, and finish at the gallery.
- Distance: about 200 metres of footpath. Three minutes if you didn't stop, which isn't the idea.
- Time: 30–40 minutes with coffee and looking time, plus however long the gallery keeps you.
- Going: flat the whole way, all footpath plus one sealed laneway. Pram and wheelchair friendly.
- Cost: free, no booking. The works are outside and always on... come in daylight for the colours.
- Parking: park once and walk the rest.
- Coffee first: Cambodia Bakery & Cafe at 215 is right there, a few doors before Stop 1, with doors open by 6am on weekdays. The morning guide has the rest.
- The gallery: The Line is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am–6pm.
227 West
Look up... it's on the timber fascia between the 2degrees sign and The Cutting Booth, above the Floorless Dance Studios door.
The Colours
This one is built from the shopfronts either side of it. The sky blue is the 2degrees sign on its left. The black is The Cutting Booth's sign on its right. The cream is the Commerce Buildings plaster overhead. Navy, grey, white and a blush pink fill in the rest... a gap between two signs that finally got a sign of its own.
Find the red line.
- Kami Sushi... some of the freshest sushi in Hastings, a few doors west at 233.
- Holland Fashion Shoes... real brands, real sizes, and staff who know a good fit (Tue–Thu and Sat).
- The Lolly Shop... bulk sweets at the end of the block, gluten-free options included.
Keep to the north footpath and head west to the end of the block. Cross King St (the side street, not the main road) and you're in the 300 block. Turn right into the laneway beside Music Works.
300 West Laneway
Look up... it's up the lane, in the boarded window of the mint brick gable.
The Colours
Back here the neighbours aren't signs, they're surfaces. The mint is the paint flaking off this very gable, the brick red is what's showing through it, and the green is the corrugated iron shed beside it. Orange, maroon and cream run through the lot. It's the only one of the four standing upright, its bands running top to bottom to fill the window. This is also the lane where the WAMJam sessions set up... if you hear a band, you're in the right place.
Find the red line.
- Music Works... instruments and gear, and the power behind the WAMJam sessions in this lane.
- Hustle Surf & Moto... a family-run surf and moto store. If they don't have it, they'll order it in.
Back out to Heretaunga St and turn right. Value Hub's yellow sign is a few steps along, same side.
328 West
Look up... it's on the verandah fascia, right beside the Value Hub sign.
The Colours
The loud one. The yellow belongs to the Value Hub sign right beside it, and the painting leads with it... purples, slate and navy keep it from shouting the whole block down. Before it went up on this verandah it stood in The Line's window during Fotofest, so you may have met it already.
Find the red line.
- Big Boss Barbers... walk-in cuts right next door, chats included.
- Anna's Beauty Lounge... manicures, pedicures and nail art, from a salon that trains local youth.
- Falekai of the Pacific... Pacific food, culture and family, a few doors west at 335.
This is the one crossing. Cross Heretaunga Street to the south side... carefully, it's the main road. The long striped fascia at 320 is just over the road, a few doors back to your left.
320 West
Look up... it's along the whole fascia of the F.King building, between a phone shop's orange sign and Shammi's green one.
The Colours
The first Strip Painting, and the longest... six metres of it. Look above it before you look at it. The coral and the turquoise come from the F.King building's own Deco panel, the cream from its plaster, and the green from Shammi's Tailoring next door. The building already had a red line of its own, running along the top of the parapet. Now it has two.
If the Deco panel caught your eye, the strip's facades have a story of their own: Wake the Walls Up.
Find the red line.
- Shammi's Tailoring... made to measure, alterations, and Islands and Indian style fashion.
- Knit World... a 300 block institution. Merino, mohair, and a pattern for everything.
- Cash Connectors... phones, electronics and repairs, open seven days.
The End of the Line
Turn left out of Stop 4 and you're there. Next door at 318 is The Line, where the whole thing started.
Inside: a screen of up to 1,000 cryptoartists from around the world, and Strip Painting panels in the gallery and its street windows. The works outside were born in here... Stop 3 stood in that window before it ever saw a verandah. Entry's free, and on a quiet afternoon you might have the room to yourself.
For the longer story of the gallery itself, read The Line: The Southern Node.
The tour ends where the line begins.
Got a Blank Fascia?
The project is open to more walls on the strip... vacant or occupied. The full story, the Maker, and commission details live at mintface.art/c/strip-paintings.
Next Walls
More walls are proposed along the strip, and a couple of the next paintings are already finished, waiting for their fascias. Walk it again in a few months and the tour will be longer. That's the point.
The works hang on private buildings and the laneway is a working carpark... look from the footpath, mind the cars, and leave the paintings to the street. Shop and gallery hours can change; check What's Open before you go.
Four walls, one crossing, one coffee. See you on the strip.