Amazing street art that enlivens cities

Today’s post is just for enjoyment.  Look at this incredible pavement art from Edgar Mueller, all temporary work created on public streets and plazas.  This comes by way of Brice Maryman, fellow land use practitioner in Seattle, and Gordon Price of Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, whose work I have featured before.  Prices's feature on Mueller, “Chalk Guy,” first appeared on the latter’s Price Tags blog. 

Mueller's own site says that, if one looks from the right spot, the three-dimensional paintings become "the perfect illusion."  The artist "paints over large areas of urban public life and gives them a new appearance, thereby challenging the perceptions of passers-by."   Here is a description of Lava Burst, the work that follows:

"On the occasion of the 30th anniversary (9.-10 August) of the international competition of street painters in Geldern (Germany) Edgar Mueller has painted a large sized, three-dimensional picture . . . Residential buildings and a couple of business are strung together. The look falls to an apparently quite normal street of a German, medium-sized town. But an apocalyptic scene offers itself to the observer. The floor has burst and lava flow into a raging sea there where cars ran once and the people followed their weekday. Nothing is like it once was." 

Bear in mind that this appeared in large scale directly on the pavement: 

I don't know the context for the next one, which is lighter in spirit and challenges the viewer's visual perspective:

Finally, this fun video shows one of Mueller's works being created, while a threatening thunderstorm looms.  The description on its YouTube site says:

"In Dun Laoghaire the "Festival of World Culture" took place from 21. to 24. of August 2008 . . . renowned German street painting artist Edgar Müller transformed a huge slice of the East Pier into a dramatic ice age scene. This project was supported by the Goethe Institution Germany."

Move your cursor over the images (courtesy of Gordon Price) for credit information.