Slinkachu: Little People

First published: Winter 2009

The art created independently around our cities has long been dominated by repetitive stencilled forms and sprayed tags and images. In London, Ben Wilson (see Raw Vision #55) has stood out strongly by creating many hundreds of tiny paintings on chewing gum directly onto the streets. Slinkachu is another original artist from the city who has a strong and personal vision. His tiny tableaux, only fleetingly in existence and captured by his camera, conjure up a strange combination of childish play and rough urban situations.

The tiny sculptures, no bigger than OO Gauge model railway figures, are glued into position and after being photographed are abandoned to fend for themselves. Very few survive for long in the harsh urban environment they find themselves. It is this fantasy of a minute alternative world struggling to survive at ground level that is so intriguing. These Little People are completely at one in the bleak London street environment which is an even harsher one for them because of their size and vulnerability. Yet their tiny scale sets them apart and forces the viewer to double take as it reveals a life which we would otherwise pass by, completely unaware of its existence.

This is an article extract; read the full article in Raw Vision #68