The Kid Should See This

‘Around the Block’ with street artist David Zinn

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This magical and motivating short film by Jonnie Lewis follows street artist David Zinn around Ann Arbor, Michigan as he draws “small-scale, improvised and (mostly) light-hearted chalk art.” He’s been at it since 1987.

Zinn’s adorable creatures are made from the local environment. Grass becomes fur. A pipe might turn into a top hat. A lost glove warms a cold alien creature. The illustrations also experiment with anamorphosis, “a distorted projection requiring the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point, use special devices, or both to view a recognizable image.” A primary example:

pencil on the street
But the short film not only highlights Zinn’s imaginative work within his community. It also has a message:

Every drawing falls short of what it was in your imagination when you started in a thousand ways. That disappointment is what makes you want to draw something else.

So you could sit there and sweat and strain. “Oh, maybe I should wait until I have the best idea.” Out on the sidewalk in the middle of the day you don’t have time to wait for the best idea because if you wait it will get dark or it will start to rain and you’ll go home having created nothing.

If you’re going to draw anything today you better start because it’ll be dark eventually and then it’ll be too late.

sidewalk robots
photographing a dragon
Enjoy this short promo for an Ann Arbor Art Center event in 2016, in which Zinn draws around sidewalk grass.


Then follow more of David Zinn’s street art on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and at ZinnArt.com. A few more examples below:


Chalk, street art, creativity, creatures, anamorphism, drawing! Watch these related videos on TKSST next:
β€’ The intricate, temporary chalk animals of Philippe Baudelocque
β€’Β Partir (Leaving)
β€’ Aug(De)Mented Reality by Marty Cooper
β€’ The Secret World of Stuff

via Colossal.


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