Photo by Denis Bouvier

The sidewalk is Nikola Vujasinovic’s 2 ½ m² canvas. In white and pastel chalks, he is recreating the face of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus outside the Robson Street entrance of the former Sear’s building. He enjoys painting faces from the works of artists of the Renaissance period as well as faces from Rembrandt and Rubens. He feels his work gives the public easy access to classical art. This type of art, especially with chalk, is ephemeral. The pleasure is in its creation. A few days after the work is finished, the site is cleaned and Nikola finds another downtown location.

Nikola studied art in Bosnia and has practised his street art in many European cities. In Canada, he has worked in Quebec and has been “painting” in Vancouver for about 3 months.

This form of street art has existed throughout Europe since the 16th century. It has variously been called street painting, pavement art, chalk art and sidewalk art. In Italy the artists are historically known as Madonnari. Between working on cathedral projects, they traveled to various religious festivals recreating images of the Madonna and other church paintings. In England, the artists are traditionally called Screevers from the Latin: to write. During the 18th century, their street art served as a sort of pictorial newspaper for its illiterate viewers and was accompanied by political and moral written commentary for its literate viewers who could show their appreciation in larger monetary rewards.

Today, it’s a performance street art celebrated at international festivals. Some of the more spectacular works are Trompe l’oeil, French for “deceive the eye”, creating a 3-D effect.

Don Richardson