The works of David Zinn are fairly easy to miss despite being in plain sight. This Ann Arbor-based artist does small-scale chalk drawings on the sidewalk, so you need to pay close attention in order to spot them. But once you do, you are welcomed with incredibly charming and adorable art.
Zinn started doing these artworks thanks to “temptations of a box of sidewalk chalk on an unusually sunny day”, as he puts it on his official website. He fell in love with the creative opportunities that this type of art offered, and it quickly became his calling card.
While most of his creative efforts are centered on Ann Arbor and other Michigan areas, Zinn’s unusual art can surface anywhere at any point. During his travels and festival visits, he makes sure to leave some art behind and has done so in Manhattan, Sweden, Taiwan, and many other corners of the world.
Zinn never plans ahead and instead lets the inspiration guide him. He improvises the drawing on the spot, being “limited only by the size of the sidewalk and the spirit of the day.” Still, he has recurring characters that he often revisits in his art, including bright green monster Sluggo and phlegmatic flying pig Philomena.
Check out more of Zinn’s sidewalk chalk artworks below.
