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David Zinn is an artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is well-known for his “ephemeral art,” created on the streets and composed entirely of chalk, charcoal, and random objects found on the premises. Cracks, holes, and small grooves are enough for Zinn to notice the figures they suggest and that’s where he gets most of his inspiration from; his work is done on the go.

Another interesting fact is that David has been drawing since 1987, making various quirky chalk-and-charcoal creatures in site-specific areas that helped the drawings wash away with the rain. As of now, the artist has become known worldwide and his work alone has gained him over 384k followers on Instagram and 458k followers on Facebook.

More info: Instagram | twitter.com | Facebook

David Zinn takes a playful approach to drawing and his work, and the artist has even had his work featured in the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) back in 2018, where he worked on a “path” that went through outdoor spaces, letting the museum visitors explore and wander to discover Zinn’s playful creatures and designs that were scattered around.

Given all of that, Bored Panda reached out to the artist:

"The honest truth about my art is that I am inspired by the absence of perfection as a possibility: between the irregularities of the stained concrete and the limited hours of available daylight outdoors, perfection is blessedly not an option. Instead, there is just the lunatic joy of finding the most satisfying option that exists within those limitations."

For more than twenty years, Zinn freelanced for a wide variety of commercial clients while simultaneously sneaking “pointless” art into the world at large. His professional commissions included theatrical posters, business logos, educational cartoons, landfill murals, environmental superheroes, corporate allegories, and hand-painted dump trucks, and his less practical creations involved bar coasters, restaurant placemats, cake icing, and snow. Now, thanks to the temptations of a box of sidewalk chalk on an unusually sunny day, Mr. Zinn is known all over the world for the art he creates under his feet.

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Most of his creatures appear on sidewalks in Michigan, but many have surfaced as far away as subway platforms in Manhattan, village squares in Sweden, and street corners in Taiwan. His most frequent characters are Sluggo (a bright green monster with stalk eyes and irreverent habits) and Philomena (a phlegmatic flying pig), but the diversity of David's work and characters seems to be limited only by the size of the sidewalk and the overall spirit of the day.

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#14

Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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BlueReaper
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one is cool, I like the water look you added to it. I would take the dragon home.

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Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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#20

Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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Znaya
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Somebody there, I can't hear you with these headphones on 😀

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Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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A
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No Timmyyyy! Go back to sleep so I can make this matching sweaterrrr

#26

Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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Little Ms. Quirky
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

we are invisible hahaha bet you won't be able to find us! Walk along, humans. good day!

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Artist Manages To Extract Life From The Streets And Walls In An Improvised And Joyful Way (New Pics)

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Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.