A nine-meter mural depicting Freddie Mercury was unveiled at Wembley Park in London on Saturday to commemorate what would have been the Queen vocalist's 80th birthday.
The artwork, titled "I'm Mr. Mercury," was created by street artist Frank Styles, who hand-painted a single image across the 58 Spanish Steps at the venue. The mural employs anamorphic design, a technique in which the image appears clear and properly proportioned only when viewed from a specific angle approximately 20 meters away. From any other vantage point, the composition fragments into abstract colors and lines.
Styles composed four separate artworks into one unified image across the staircase. The mural incorporates elements reflecting Mercury's life beyond the stage, including koi carp that reference the singer's affection for Japan and the Japanese garden pond at his London home. Feminine figures in the work allude to Virgo, the zodiac sign Mercury used in Queen's iconic band emblem.
Mercury, born September 5, 1946, performed at Wembley multiple times throughout his career. Queen gave 10 concerts at the venue, formerly known as Empire Pool, between 1978 and 1984. The band also performed at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in July 1985, and returned to the stadium for two sold-out concerts the following summer.