Of Course There's a 'Tiger King' Mural In Pittsburgh, And It's Glorious
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Every place you turn, everyone is talking about Netflix's "Tiger King" documentary.
Now, a Pittsburgh artist is paying tribute to the "Tiger King" with an incredible mural of Joe Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic.
Jeremy Raymer has created a buzz with his mural painted on a wall near the intersection of Moultrie Street and Tustin Street just behind the Forbes Field Garage in Pittsburgh's Uptown neighborhood.
Raymer told KDKA that he frequently paints elements of pop culture and that was the case for the Joe Exotic mural as well.
The best part is that the tiger's head was already painted on the wall, all Raymer had to do was transform it into a Joe Exotic mural.
"It was random happenstance, that another local artist, Chiaka Howze ... had painted a fragment of a Tiger one block down from my studio," Raymer said. "And this tiger matched up near perfectly to one of the images of the Tiger King."
The Netflix documentary on Joe Exotic, a former Oklahoma zoo owner, has taken social media by storm.
It was released on March 20, and since then you can't escape someone posting about it on Facebook, or Twitter.
"We all know we are in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic," Raymer told KDKA. "For some reason, the public and world have found solace/distraction/intrigue in this show and its characters."
The mural is nearly 12 feet tall, and Raymer says it's actually just a block away from his studio.
"I think it goes without saying, the Tiger King is something the public is fascinated by, and not someone we strive to be," Raymer said. "I wanted to go out and create a piece to provide some distraction to the current state of the world."