As a well known fine artist, Stefan Smit has enjoyed many memorable moments in his career.
From teaching maximum security prisoners at Leeuwkop prison how to paint to travelling to countries like Denmark, Sri Lanka, London, Dubai, to show off his skills.
He’s also been lucky enough to work for clients like Nike, Sony, Ray-Ban, Discovery, EMI, Netflix, and Standard Bank.
But one of the most memorable moments as a fine artist for Smit came last year when he was given the opportunity to paint a giant mural of Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli.
Smit was given just three days to complete the painting in time for the arrival of a film crew and the sports star.
A film company approached Smit to paint four murals of Kohli on the side of an abandoned building in downtown Johannesburg, each 4m high, to be featured in a commercial for an Indian sports drink.
This week Smit chatted to us about his experience of painting one of cricket’s most loved stars.
Prior to meeting cricketer Virat Kohli, did you know who he was?
Nope, I've never been a very sporty person so when friends told me what a big deal this was I believed them but felt kind of oddly removed from it.
Are you a fan of cricket at all?
I'm not actually! So I felt kind of guilty getting to meet someone who so many people seem to idolise but not know.
What was it like coming face to face with Kohli?
It was a little intimidating to be honest because everyone was treating him like a God and the fact he was constantly surrounded by several "men in black" looking individuals didn't help! Haha.
But once I spoke to him and spent some time on set chatting with him he was actually pretty easy to talk to and seemed like a nice guy.
Tell me a little bit about how you got commissioned to do a mural of Kohli?
The process was quite a democratic one as far as I know. I was called up one afternoon and asked to produce some work of him to see how good I was at capturing his likeness which several other artists also had to do so the agency could figure out who to hire and they happened to like my work and gave me the opportunity
What was it like painting a mural in the Johannesburg CBD in the middle of the night?
That's an experience I'll never forget... I was told I had three days to paint four large murals, including the design work, sourcing the correct paint and everything in between (including one day where it POURED with rain (see my Instagram story for a whole behind the scenes) to add to the deadline stress I was also told that Virat was flying out for only half a day to do the shoot and if the murals weren't complete in time the entire premise behind the ad would fall apart!
So I set to work inside a derelict and abandoned building in the heart of Joburg CBD and because it was/is such a dangerous area and I'd have to be painting until about sunrise each morning they hired two armed bodyguards to protect me, should anyone try anything. It was truly a surreal experience and probably one I'll never forget!
What did Kohli think of your mural?
He loved it! He actually liked it so much that he changed his Facebook cover photo to it and that hasn't changed in over two years!
You guys exchanged details. Have you kept in contact with him again?
He loved the murals so much he said that he wanted to commission me to paint two pieces for him and asked me to get hold of him through his manager but unfortunately, his manager hasn't let me speak to him...
How long did it take you to paint the mural?
The entire process was a sleepless blur of a week which started with the preliminary sketch to see if my skills were up to scratch, from there it was location scouting with the director and team to source some good walls and figure out design work (they even ended up extending one of the walls above the main mural to give a bit of extra height and glued a yoga mat to the wall for me to paint over so that when filming the cricket ball bouncing off the wall it would have the effect of plaster cracking away!
I really love how resourceful the film industry can be.) But that was probably least amount of sleep I've gotten in a week (except for the mural I painted for SAB, where I fell asleep on a pile of bricks in the construction site ((see attached))
I understand that it had to be painted over immediately after the shoot with Kohli. Were you disappointed to see it painted over so quickly?
I was! But I've had to teach myself to get used to the idea of letting go when painting murals outside that anyone could either paint over or even demolish like one of my favourite murals I did this year for the International Public Art Festival in Cape Town ( https://stefansmit.co.za/collections/international-public-arts-festival/ ), so I've had to come to peace with this reality and I think it's honestly made me a better painter because I'm more willing to experiment with my work and try new techniques that sometimes leave the work worse off but occasionally can revolutionise the way I paint!
You had to paint a mural of an individual you weren't really aware of. Does that make your job a lot harder?
Not really, hey. I've painted SOOO many portraits over the years that I've become quite accustomed to being able to capture a likeness without having met the person but I will say that something special happens when I paint portraits from life!
Would you say you are a cricket fan now? And do you look out for Kohli in action these days?
Haha putting me on the spot! I do look out for Kohli when my father in law watches cricket (which he loves) but I'm still not a fan. Cricket just isn't my cup of tea but I definitely have a new found respect for sport as another art form.
Have you painted murals for other celebrities? If so, who are they and what was that like?
I've had some interesting experiences painting Ministers and for some brands I love like Nike, Sony, Netflix and even getting the chance to paint Riky Rick for Ray-Ban but I still think Virat is the biggest celebrity I've had the chance to rub shoulders with.