ARTIST CREATES STUNNING MURAL PAINTINGS ON FLOATING PIECES OF ICE
Artist David Popa, who is based in Finland, was producing amazing murals that drew inspiration from his surroundings when we last visited. Popa paints on Earth using only charcoal, chalk, and natural pigments. His transient artwork, whether it is made on ice, snow, dirt, or sand, is captivating. Popa frequently uploads videos of his artistic process for those who are curious about how he creates his murals. He can be seen working on a floating chunk of ice in one of the videos. The ice breaks apart as he works hard on the portrait of a woman. Even though he is initially shocked, Popa eventually comes to accept this development.
“One of the goals of my work is to capture the ephemeral, fleeting nature of our lived reality… A reality that is fragmented and broken and often makes us want to give up soon after we realise the broken pieces cannot be mended.”
"I tried to put the pieces back together at first, but I quickly realised it was pointless to be trying to put fragments together that will never join together again in the same way," he writes. "The work obviously had its own agenda, and I reluctantly kept working on it without knowing what the end product would look like.
Even though Popa creates a lot of his work in Finland, he has just recently started to expand. He's working in desert environments for new murals in Utah and Saudi Arabia, and the results are striking. His artwork has a distinct appearance and feel due to the warm tones of the desert.
Popa is currently working on an apparel line that will feature his land art in partnership with the mental health brand Memento and the photography collective. On his website, he also offers limited-edition prints for sale. Interested collectors can register to be notified when their next print drop occurs.