Artist honours Anthony Bourdain with lifelike murals

Los Angeles: While the aura of Anthony Bourdain lives on, fans who drive down Wilshire here will get an extra reminder of the celebrity chef - thanks to a new painting by a popular street muralist.

Jonas Never completed his Bourdain mural on Friday in Santa Monica, on the side wall of a new restaurant and bar called Gramercy.

He told tmz.com that he was hired by the joint to paint its signage lettering, and asked if he could also do the mural as a tribute.

Bourdain died at the age of 61.

His close friend Eric Ripert, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room on Friday morning.

Bourdain was a master of his crafts -- first in the kitchen and then in the media. Through his TV shows and books, he explored the human condition and helped audiences think differently about food, travel and themselves.