Colorful Crosswalks Make You Dizzy And Stagger

Keep your head down low or you might miss it all! Spread across the world pedestrian crossings are turning into bright and colorful works of art coming straight from the hands of renown artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (born 1923 in Caracas). Already in the 1970s, the Venezuelan artist discovered the streets as a medium for art and has, thus, implemented several interventions in urban spaces before anybody even knew what it meant.

When using one of his crosswalks you will feel like hypnotized or suffering from an optical illusion as the image changes from every vantage point — making the objects move and change colors. So, by painting crosswalks Cruz-Diez “injects an element of surprise into urban routine” in an environment where people have become “habitual beings who obey rules that nobody questions”.

Painted crosswalks by Carlos Cruz-Diez

Painted crosswalks by Carlos Cruz-Diez

As an artist with a background in the Kinetic Movement he likes to play with colors and movement in order to change the attitude how colors are perceived in art. For instance, it is a common habit to first draw a shape and then fill it with a color of choice. You would always draw the shape of an apple first and then fill it with red ink. Cruz-Diez, however, deconstructs this hierarchy of form and color and, instead, tears shapes apart.