Inside the ever-changing world of art, a new medium of graffiti has emerged. Known as ‘cellograffiti’, it involves spray painting on a cellophane sheet wrapped around two poles to keep it upright. This form of graffiti has taken Europe and the Internet by storm. Spearheading the movement is Evgeny Ches, a Russian graffiti artist, who I had the pleasure of interviewing.
When posed with the question of how and why he came up with the name and concept of ‘cellograffiti’, he replied, “Sometimes I paint on plastic wrap, I saw it on the Internet, two guys from France painted their graffiti on plastic wrap in the city. Because I like to experiment and try different techniques and style – I was interested. I immediately came up with the idea of painting my graffiti on plastic wrap; not in street space, but in nature. I thought that it could turn out to be a very interesting photo, where urban art style will be in harmony with natural landscapes.”
This leads me to my second question about how this art form changes the way graffiti is perceived today, to which he replied, “Cellograffiti is an interesting technique because it is possible to create a wall where it does not exist. You can practice painting with spray cans in the backyard or paint something that gives a creative atmosphere during a picnic with friends. Only, you have to remember that you need to remove the plastic so that it does not clog the nature with the garbage if you paint in places where it can stay for a long time.”
Certainly, with that answer, I was tempted to ask ‘the question’ – What is the message that he wants to send out through these works? His answer was straightforward and really surprised me. “I think here the message is not important, it’s more about art. But I think to paint some animals that are on the verge of extinction, would help draw attention to this problem.”
When I asked him if he had faced any challenges while putting up these paintings, he simply said, “I think I had no particular problems.”
My last question was regarding the term ‘cellograffiti’ itself and his movement with this art form that he has started with the help of his Instagram account by the handle ‘@cellograffiti’. He answered, “This is only one of the new small areas in the creative field that anyone can make use of if necessary.”
Upon the development of this legal alternative in 2006 by the French artists Astro and Kanos in Paris, ‘cellograffiti’ is making its mark through the works of Evgeny Ches and the artists he features on his Instagram account.
To discover more artists and their works, follow @cellograffiti.
To follow Ches’s works do follow his Instagram profile @ches_ches. You can also see the process of painting Cellograffiti on his channel on YouTube
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