GNASHER CREATES ‘SQUARE ROCK HISTORY’ WITH STUNNING ELVIS PRESLEY MURAL

Renowned street artist Gnasher has earned a place in rock history. In fact he deserves a prime spot in ‘Square Rock history’ with his latest mural at the 2018 European Elvis Festival.

Square Rock took Gnasher to Germany after an invitation from the festival in Bad Nauheim on the weekend of 17 August. The ‘King of Rock and Roll’ was stationed there during military service for the US Army…and that was where he met a very young Priscilla!

During his time in Bad Nauheim, Elvis took part in a photoshoot outside a tunnel called the Burgpforte. The shoot provided the cover for the single ‘A Big Hunk o’ Love’, released in 1959.

Gnasher had already painted large-scale murals for Xbox, Ford, easyJet, and other major companies.

But this was a massive undertaking. Even before Gnasher started the mural, an agency dedicated to protecting German monuments and the local mayor had to grant permission – which they did.

Gnasher toiled for two days working solidly from a low resolution image, and perched on giant scaffolding.

Oscar and Grammy Award winner Darlene Love, who performed with Elvis, was delighted to see the end result. She arrived to meet Gnasher and was astonished to see the challenges he faced.

Gnasher’s mural differs slightly from the picture chosen for the actual record cover. He chose another image from the Elvis photoshoot. Blurred figures in the bottom left include a pushchair containing a child who is now 60 years old and an avid fan of the mural!

More to come on Darlene and the now fully-grown Elvis fan, because the ‘King’ is always on their minds…