Arts Explorer # 9 Guerilla Art

For my guerilla art project, I chose to use sidewalk chalk. First, a sidewalk is something everyone must use - who walks on the road, anyway? And chalk reminded me of a classroom; the outdoors and the indoors were tied together in this medium. The chalk is so simple to use, yet the colours are so vibrant and stand out very much. Impossible to miss on any surface. 

It was a sunny afternoon outside, and I bent down on my hands and knees to get started.

First, I chose a place on the sidewalk that was surrounded on sides left and right with grass; that way, pedestrians would have to step aside in order to cross.

Then, I proceeded to draw a gorilla - true guerilla art. 

My message to the world was, "STOP PLEASE". I wanted to see how people would react to such a command. "Stop", like the Stop signs one sees every day, and "please", a softer side to the command.

Then, I hid behind my car and behind a tree to see what people's reactions were like.

This is an old man and his young friend. They did not step on my drawing, but walked off to the side, constantly staring at my work.

This is a Chinese man who just stepped on my drawing. He stopped afterwards, though. He seemed very surprised to see a message on the ground.

I feel that art, albeit sidewalk chalk, has an effect on people of all ages and ethnicities. Something as simple as an arbitrary person's doodles on a surface are seen by everyone that walk by. I realized that art is a form of self expression and a means of identifying oneself. It feels as if I communicated with these strangers, without saying anything or without knowing who they were. I am proud of my work and would like to experiment further with guerrila art; on different surfaces and places, using different media.