Artist behind DJ Burns mural at NC State celebrates an ‘absolute Raleigh legend’

NC State’s DJ Burns Jr. and his exuberant personality have captured the country’s attention as the Wolfpack has defeated team after team to enter this weekend’s Final Four.

At home in Raleigh, a new, giant mural of the star catches the eye of everyone who walks by.

The mural — a picture of Burns grinning at the camera while peering over a pair of red sunglasses — greets students at an entrance to the iconic Free Expression Tunnel on the main campus.

The mural was painted by Raleigh-based artist Sean Kernick, who told The News & Observer he felt compelled to grab his spray paint and celebrate Burns with his art after watching him help the Wolfpack men advance to the Final Four for the first time since 1983.

The mural is based on a portrait of the forward taken by News & Observer photojournalist Kaitlin McKeown in September during the Wolfpack men’s basketball media day.

Kernick said he chose the photo as a reference because it captured Burns’s essence.

“Playful and fun,” Kernic said in an interview.

Students busy going from one class to the other on Thursday stopped and took a moment to grab a photo of the mural and take it all in. Several photos were taken all at once as a tour group of prospective students walked by.

Typically, when Kernick paints a mural around Raleigh or elsewhere in the Triangle, he works by himself, painting in isolation. But painting this mural, which Kernick finished between Tuesday and Wednesday, was “particularly special,” he said. People kept coming up to him, curious about the project and wanting to talk and take photos.

“The city, it’s growing so fast, that people are hungry for this kind of civic pride, and on a national stage,” Kernick said. “And so when they have something that really is a symbol in the team, both men’s and women’s, but in particular, DJ Burns has been kind of a standout. There’s a lot of gravity to a moment like that, and a person like that.”

In less than 24 hours, the mural has been shared far and wide, even as far as The New York Times, which called Raleigh “the new epicenter of college basketball.”

Kernick has been painting at the Free Expression Tunnel for more than two decades, with its colorful walls the perfect canvas for his creativity. His wife went to NC State, and he said he’s grateful he can give the NC State community and Raleigh something to commemorate this moment together.

After posting a photo of the mural on his Instagram story Wednesday, Kernick said he was glad when he noticed that Burns had seen it, but didn’t appear to share it himself, since the mural is “shining such a bright spotlight on one player amongst a team.”

“It’s the team that got us there, but sometimes, in moments like this, it is worth throwing flowers at somebody like him who’s going to be an absolute Raleigh legend for life,” Kernick said. “No matter what happens this weekend, he has cemented himself as a legend here.”