While we're usually the first to mourn the loss of removed graffiti, artist Daniel Ginns is reminding us to look on the bright side and appreciate the mystery left behind. The young British artist, foremost an illustrator, embarked on a project photographing the remains of graffiti that had been shoddily removed, leaving in its wake a different sort of artwork.
"They are called into existence by a lack of thoroughness in the removal process," Ginns explained to the Huffington Post. "That results in free floating geometric shapes habitually only a slightly different shade of color from that of the original wall, layered on top of each other creating imagery that could be considered reminiscent of the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko."
Thus "Rothko Walls" was born.
If you've ever appreciated a Rothko painting, in which color fields radiate without reference, you'll begin to notice similarities between Rothko's spiritual canvases and the city's sloppy clean-up jobs. In both cases, pure pigment, left to its own devices, begins to communicate independently of the artist.
Check out some of the expressionist urban canvases below and let us know if you buy the comparison.
