Powerful graffiti

Gallery

LITTLE BRAK NEWS - There is a green face on a wall of the old Eskom power station at Powertown in Little Brak.

This face was painted by graffiti artist Andreas Gildenhuys last month. On his travels, Gildenhuys stops at an empty wall along the road and transforms it.

It's an expensive hobby, considering one can of spray paint costs about R100.

Gildenhuys says: "I do graffiti everywhere. I started to paint at the old power station in 2012. It's a pitstop for me."

Aged 30, he is a fitter and turner, but has been doing graffiti for 16 years. It is a creative outlet for him and a labour of love because he is not paid for the artworks or the time taken to do them.

"I usually don't paint at the same spot. Powertown is the only spot I have painted at more than once. There is always space for more paintings there and no one else paints there.

"I have been painting faces for a long time, in different colours: orange, yellow, green and blue. They look like aliens, with no ears. They are my trademark, to stand out and be unique."

Gildenhuys used 16 to 18 cans of paint for the Powertown face. "I use a high quality paint. That face at Powertown will be there for 15 years."

He lives in Cape Town, but has family in Mossel Bay.

"Painting on canvas is boring," he says. "I will never stop doing graffiti. The bigger the wall, the better. There is the physical aspect people don't realise and a lot more planning. You have to plan your paint."

PHOTO GALLERY: Graffiti in Little Brak

Andreas Gildenhuys