Spray man

 

Sprayman, 2016, 170 × 80 × 80 cm, mixed media.

 

The Sprayman is the epitome of street art. He does not use sprays in order to visualize paintings, graffiti, etc. He is an existential expression of spraying.

The stream of paint does not point in one direction, but in all directions from the source which is himself. The Sprayman may be hardly visible under the stream of paint, almost as if he were an anthropomorphic fog, an apparition. Wherever he goes, he leaves a blurred trace behind, a kind of stigma.

The Sprayman’s overall is fitted with brackets and straps which can hold any sprays. Like the valve in a bicycle, their nozzles are interconnected with a central control by means of bayonet via a Bowden cable, which the performer holds in his hand. The cables may be just as well replaced by a hydraulic system. All controlling elements, in particular the Bowden cables, must be firmly stitched or sewn into the material from which the Sprayman’s suit is made in order not to restrict his movement or, as the case may be, tear the bayonet out of the nozzle of the spray.