Greek sportstar and NBA basketball champion Giannis Antetonkoumpo might be an artist on the court, but now in Thessaloniki he has become art himself, after street artist Elias Stylos, aka "Hayate", completed a 5x5m mural of Giannis on a wall to serve as a kind of inspiration for "people to fulfil their dreams."
Others murals include that of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, which he said took him four days to complete, of which two 12-hour sessions were for the face alone. As he said to the Greek news agency ANA "I want to honor the person I depict in my works, and to show that spark inside, which could motivate others to achieve their dream."
The well-known street artist revealed that he searches for the story behind people "who began from zero."
In Giannis' case, Stylos said, "he inspired me - besides of where he started from and where he got to - in how hard he fought for his dream, and in that he chose a small team and took them to the top. It reminds me of Maradona."
Asked why he chose that particular pose, the artist said, "I wanted to find something that inspires you to achieve your goal, and I think this is registered in his look in this image."
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