C215

While traveling in Europe this winter, with an eye open for interesting graffiti, I kept noticing the work of one street artist in particular - C215. I had seen C215's work on various blogs before, but I had no idea how powerful these pieces are when seen in their natural environment - in doorways, on embankments, and on the sides of dumpsters.

C215's images come from his encounters with people in desperate circumstances around the world. He meets and photographs beggars, prostitutes, refugees and orphans, turning their images into intricate stencils which he paints on "non places" in the streets, on highway supports, on tagged and rusty doors, on pasted-up telephone poles, and on busted or burned walls. He interacts with people through every step of the process, now in London, now in Sao Paolo

Without exception, his work is gorgeous. C215 has a surprisingly beautiful myspace page, and one of the best flickr sites I've ever seen, using it as a journal to track his movement across the globe. If ever proof was needed that street art serves a vital social function, c215's work does the trick.