Skeleton and Bird mural by SMUG, Park Lane, Frankston, Victoria, Australia
Skeleton and Bird
SMUG (Sam Bates) · “Skeleton and Bird”, photorealistic mural, March 2018 · building wall on Park Lane, Frankston, Victoria; the building has since been demolished
Photo as published on Street Art Utopia; photographer not named
A giant skeleton leans in to look at a small blue bird resting on one bony fingertip. SMUG, the Australian-born painter Sam Bates who lives in Glasgow, painted it on a wall in Park Lane, Frankston, as the headline piece of the first Big Picture Fest in March 2018. Some residents called it “grotesque”; the Discover Frankston visitor guide later called it his iconic Frankston piece. In October 2023 a local writer reported that the building was being torn down, and by March 2025 Street Art Cities listed the work as removed: “Building demolished.”
5 things to know
- The festival’s headline wallThe Big Picture Fest’s own page: “Headlined by a significant piece by world-renowned street artist Smug from Glasgow”. Bayside News, before the festival: “headlined by Smug from Glasgow renowned for artwork with photographic realism”. Big Picture Fest · Bayside News, 13 Mar 2018
- A few days of workStreetArtNews: “After a few days of work, the end result is as usual with Smug simply stunning with this massive skeleton and his tiny bird friend.” An Instagram post of the wall from 26 March 2018, the day after the festival ended, is tagged “#finished”. StreetArtNews · Instagram, renee_1316
- It divided the town3AW, 2 April 2018: “It’s a huge skeleton, which has attracted a positive response from many on social media, but the Frankston Leader reports some residents believe it is “grotesque” and even “frightening to children”.” The station discussed it with Frankston’s mayor, Colin Hampton. 3AW
- Then part of Park LaneThe Discover Frankston visitor guide to the 2023 festival: “Many city regulars would know Smug’s iconic Frankston piece, the large scale skeleton and bird, that’s become part of Park Lane.” In 2019 LG Focus described the council’s street art tours: “From a Blue Jay landing on a giant skeleton to a young plaited girl blowing bubbles, crowds are flocking”. Discover Frankston · LG Focus, 2019
- Torn down with the buildingWeekend Notes, October 2023: “Elsewhere in the world Smug’s works are revered and Frankston is letting this one be torn down.” Street Art Cities now marks the work as removed: “Building demolished.” Weekend Notes · Street Art Cities
Check-in guide
- 📍
- It was on Park Lane in Frankston’s city centre, “Between Braap and Hoyts Cinema”, according to Melbourne Playgrounds; Street Art Cities pins it at -38.14449, 145.12299 (Melbourne Playgrounds, Street Art Cities).
- 🚧
- The building has been demolished, so the mural can no longer be seen (Street Art Cities).
- 🧭
- The Maps button opens Street Art Cities’ pin. The 2018 festival walls included “The BRAAP Motorcycle Centre in Park Lane” (Bayside News).
Sightings
- 201813 Mar
Festival walls announced
- 201825 Mar
Instagram photo
- 201826 Mar
Instagram: “#finished”
- 201828 Mar
Graffiti Street report
- 20182 Apr
3AW: town divided
- 20183 Apr
StreetArtNews feature
- 201911 Oct
On council street art tours
- 2023
Visitor guide: “part of Park Lane”
- 202317 Oct
Building to be torn down
- 202427 Nov
Last marked as seen
- 202520 Mar
Marked removed: building demolished
Every stamp links to the dated source. The two green stamps are Instagram posts of the finished wall, dated by when they were posted, 25 and 26 March 2018; 3AW embedded both and credits its photo to Renee Briggs-Gordon. Amber stamps are dated records and reports: the festival announcement, press coverage in 2018, the council’s tours in 2019, the undated Discover Frankston guide to the March 2023 festival, and Weekend Notes in October 2023 saying the building was being torn down. The last amber stamp and the red stamp come from the Street Art Cities record: its data says the work was last marked as seen on 27 November 2024, and the record, now marked Removed with the note “Building demolished”, was last updated on 20 March 2025. If that November 2024 sighting is right, the wall came down between those two dates, later than the October 2023 article implied; the year 2025 on the stamp rests on that record update, and we found no news report of the demolition itself. The photo at the top of this page has no date.
On the record
‘Frightening the kids’: The street art dividing Franskton
“It’s a huge skeleton, which has attracted a positive response from many on social media, but the Frankston Leader reports some residents believe it is “grotesque” and even “frightening to children”.”
By Tom Elliott. The headline misspells Frankston. The page embeds two Instagram photos of the finished wall.
Smug for The Big Picture Fest in Frankston, Australia
“After a few days of work, the end result is as usual with Smug simply stunning with this massive skeleton and his tiny bird friend.”
The feature names the artist as Smug One, also known as Sam Bates, invited to Australia by the festival.
Frankston Street Art Walking Tour
“Elsewhere in the world Smug’s works are revered and Frankston is letting this one be torn down.”
By Nadine Cresswell-Myatt, after a Frankston street art walking tour; she writes that the Park Lane artwork will be destroyed because the building is being torn down.
The facts
- Artist
- SMUG (Sam Bates), also known as Smug One (Street Art Cities, 3AW, StreetArtNews, Graffiti Street) Checked
- Title
- “Skeleton and Bird”, the title on Street Art Cities; other sources describe it without a title, as a “Giant Skeleton Mural” or “the large scale skeleton and bird” (Street Art Cities, Melbourne Playgrounds, Discover Frankston) Reported
- Made
- March 2018, for the first Big Picture Fest, held 23 to 25 March 2018; Beat called it “the inaugural Big Picture Fest” (Street Art Cities, Big Picture Fest, Graffiti Street, Beat, 12 Feb 2018) Checked. Finished by 26 March 2018, the date of an Instagram post tagged “#finished” (Instagram) Checked
- Festival
- SMUG headlined the festival, and this skeleton is the piece he painted for it (Big Picture Fest, Bayside News, Graffiti Street) Checked
- Place
- Park Lane, Frankston city centre, between BRAAP and the Hoyts cinema (Street Art Cities, Melbourne Playgrounds, Discover Frankston) Checked
- Building
- Bayside News listed “The BRAAP Motorcycle Centre in Park Lane” among the 2018 festival walls. BRAAP’s listed address is 35 Playne Street, a derelict building approved in 2024 to be knocked down. No source says the skeleton was on that building (Bayside News 2018, Bikes4Sale, Bayside News 2024) Unconfirmed
- Reception
- Some residents found it “grotesque” and “frightening to children”, according to the Frankston Leader as reported by 3AW (3AW) Reported
- Meaning
- Graffiti Street captions it “The part of us that makes us all the same”; it does not say who wrote the line (Graffiti Street) Reported
- The bird
- A small blue bird. LG Focus calls it a Blue Jay; an Instagram post of the finished wall tags it #bluewren, and the photos show a bird like Australia’s superb fairywren, known as the blue wren. We do not name a species, since no source about the mural does so with authority (LG Focus, Instagram, bossybritches_au) Conflicting
- Our photo
- Shows the same wall as the Street Art Cities photos by Lou Chamberlin: the skull, the bird on the fingertip and the SMUG signature at top right (Street Art Cities) Checked
- Status
- Gone: Street Art Cities marks it Removed, with the note “Building demolished”; in 2023 Weekend Notes reported the building was being torn down (Street Art Cities, Weekend Notes) Checked. When: last marked as seen 27 November 2024, record last updated 20 March 2025; no dated report of the demolition found Unconfirmed
Related
- On Street Art Utopia: Not Sleeping Tonight (12 Photos) (10 October 2026), where the photo above appears as work no. 5, and Street Art by SMUG.
- Another SMUG wall with its own file: Honey… I Shrunk the Kids, Mitchell Street, Glasgow.
- The Big Picture Fest’s page for its first edition, with the 2018 artists. Big Picture Fest
All sources (15)
This work
- Street Art Cities: “Skeleton and Bird”, listed 26 April 2018, photos by Lou Chamberlin. Smug, Park Lane, painted for The Big Picture Fest in March 2018, status Removed, “Building demolished”; last marked as seen 27 November 2024.
- Bayside News: “Wonderwall fest to transform skyline”, 13 March 2018. Headlined by Smug; festival walls including the BRAAP Motorcycle Centre in Park Lane; painting from 19 March.
- The Big Picture Fest: “Frankston 2018”, festival page, undated. 23 to 25 March 2018, headlined by Smug from Glasgow.
- Graffiti Street: “The BIG Picture Street Art Festival, Australia 2018”, by Donna Haden, 28 March 2018. Smug’s realistic skeleton in Frankston, photos by @vanstheomega.
- 3AW: “‘Frightening the kids’: The street art dividing Franskton”, by Tom Elliott, 2 April 2018. SMUG’s huge skeleton, the Frankston Leader report.
- StreetArtNews: “Smug for The Big Picture Fest in Frankston, Australia”, 3 April 2018. Massive skeleton and tiny bird, a few days of work.
- LG Focus: “Street art stirs a pot of excitement”, 11 October 2019. Council street art tours; the bird on the giant skeleton.
- Discover Frankston: “Your go to guide – Big Picture Fest 2023”, visitor guide, undated, for the March 2023 festival. The skeleton and bird as part of Park Lane.
- Melbourne Playgrounds: “Frankston Street Art Murals”, undated. Giant Skeleton Mural by Smug, between Braap and Hoyts Cinema in Park Lane.
- Weekend Notes: “Frankston Street Art Walking Tour”, by Nadine Cresswell-Myatt, 17 October 2023. The Park Lane work to be destroyed with the building.
Dated photos
- Instagram: post by bossybritches_au, posted 25 March 2018, embedded by 3AW. Tagged #skeleton, #bluewren, #smugone.
- Instagram: post by renee_1316, posted 26 March 2018, embedded by 3AW, which credits its photo to Renee Briggs-Gordon. Tagged #finished, #thebigpicturefest, @smugone.
Context
- Beat: “The Big Picture Fest to change the face of Frankston”, 12 February 2018. Announcement of the inaugural festival, with Smug from Glasgow.
- Bikes4Sale: “Braaap Frankston VIC”, dealer listing, undated. Address 35 Playne Street, Frankston.
- Bayside News: “Plans approved to transform derelict building”, first published in the Frankston Times, 1 October 2024. 35 Playne Street to be knocked down for offices, shops and apartments.
Artwork File · Last checked 11 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files