Graffiti Artist Gives His Tags The GIF Of Life Through Stop-Motion

Spanish street artist Cheko is a people person, in that most of his paintings focus on simple human moments, emotions, and motions: A man playing a trumpet; a graffiti artist choosing which can of spray paint to pick up next; a young lady with plants on the brain. His latest work captures a universal feeling—confusion—and gives it an entirely new kind of life through GIFs and stop-motion.

Cheko is familiar with making GIF art. He created a "making of" GIF of one painting, and animated a couple of his other works, as well. But the boy in his latest Tumblr post follows the intimate-human-moments theme in his work, and uses the GIF medium perfectly. The subtlety of the birds encircling his head ad nauseum is mesmerizing—the exact effect GIFs are famous for.

Animated street art is quickly picking up steam as cheap cameras and editing software become ubiquitous throughout the world. British artist INSA, is another pioneer, of "GIF-iti", paving the way for more endless loops of vibrating, wiggling, strobing street art.

You can see more of Cheko's work on his Tumblr or on his website, and you can check out INSA's GIF-iti here.