Creation through Destruction

Kentucky

No matter how many times I see street artist Vhils' deconstructed walls, I'm still just as impressed as the first day I laid eyes on them. It's his process that I admire the most, how he uses common tools like a power drill and chisel or different types of paint, to literally scratch off a surface.

"My work is really concerned with trying to question the reality we live in, in these urban environments where most of us live now, so it deals with social urbanity," Vhils says." "I’m really trying to focus on the act of destruction as a creative force in itself.

"I believe that, as social animals, we are all composed and shaped by a variety of different influences which are layered onto us. We are formed by these social and historical layers which are provided by the environment and context we grow up and live in. This same environment can also be seen as being composed by a vast amount of layers which have shaped it into what it is today.

"In a very symbolical way, I believe that by removing some of these layers and leaving other, deeper and therefore older, layers, we can expose some of the things which have been forgotten or discarded along the way. Some of these might be truly important or valuable, or even just interesting or whatever. These lost memories compose who we are today."

Today, I've put together a collection of some of his most striking work. They're portraits of everyday people staring back at us on the street.