Bob Dylan Mural, created by Eduardo Kobra

Early evening sunlight highlights the 5-story Bob Dylan Mural created by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra. The vibrant Bob Dylan mural in downtown Minneapolis is the largest work of public art that world-renowned street artist Eduardo Kobra has created in the United States to date. It is also the most Instagrammed image in Minnesota. This five-story tribute to Bob Dylan was created in the fall of 2015 as a private commission. It has become iconic to downtown Minneapolis and the Hennepin Theatre District. Kobra is a São Paulo, Brazil native who began as a young street artist in a low-income neighborhood, tagging with an older graffiti crew. Today, his celebrated works light up cities around the globe and include portraits of visionaries and activists such as Malala Yousefzai, Abraham Lincoln, inventor Alfred Nobel and rap idol Tupak Shakur. While Dylan’s connections to Hennepin Avenue aren’t as well-known as his ties to the Dinkytown area of Minneapolis, Dylan and his brother once owned the Orpheum Theatre (today owned by the Hennepin Theatre Trust). In November 2014, the performer played a sold-out, three-night stand in the historic space. A portrait of the artist as a young (and older) man Kobra’s vision for the mural takes the form of a triptych, featuring glimpses of Dylan through the years, as a young and middle-aged musician and as a wizened, worldly poet of the people. The piece also incorporates lyrics from his famous social protest anthem “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” To capture the spirit of his subjects, Kobra uses a grid system to lay down a photo-real portrait in black and white. Next, he colorblocks the image with the help of Brazilian artist collaborators who have worked with him for 15 years. Together, the “Kobra Studio” (Silvio Cesar Gonçalves de Almeida, Agnaldo Brito Pereira and Marcos Rafael da Silva) uses a combination of brushes, airbrushes and air compression cans to add brilliant hues and shading to the portrait.--Hennepin Theatre Trust