Pictures made of coffee and sand by a talented self-taught artist Alexander Wald (Ukraine)

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Strong black coffee has long become a hallmark of Lviv, because the streets of the city lined with paving stones are literally saturated with the aroma of this drink. For Ukrainian talented self-taught artist Alexander Wald A cup of morning coffee has long ceased to be an exclusively source of vivacity for the whole day; the master uses coffee grounds in combination with sand as a “material” for creativity.

Coffee paintings are not uncommon in contemporary art. Karen Eland, Hong Yi, Saimir Strati - a whole galaxy of artists are now engaged in coffee art. The works of Alexander Wald are striking in their originality, since for his masterpieces he uses not even beans, but ground coffee. It is surprising that Alexander is a locksmith by profession, works in the Lviv circus, and paintings are his hobby. Like fortune-tellers, the artist takes good care of the coffee grounds, because the two or three cups he drinks daily provide the necessary supply of "materials". Alexander has no particular preferences for the type of coffee, the only exception is instant coffee, since this drink does not leave a residue.

Starting to work on a drawing, the artist first traces the contours of the future image on the canvas, and then lays out the dark and light areas of dried coffee grounds and sand. This is very painstaking work, as it can take several weeks to create one small job. Armed with a jewelry monocle, the author lays out coffee and sand, after having smeared the canvas with glue, and then opens the finished work with varnish.

Wald's collection contains about half a thousand paintings, but he does not plan to stop there. Most of the works adorn the walls of the circus in which the artist works; he donates some of the paintings to touring artists. Most of the clients wishing to purchase coffee images order portraits or icons, the cost of the paintings is purely symbolic - 100 hryvnia ($ 12). True, Alexander Wald usually spends the money he earns in coffee shops.