Although the GIF was first introduced in 1987, it wasn’t until over two decades later that the format really hit pop lexicon. In the last few years particularly, GIFs have become a sort of culture unto themselves – digital, smart, and often mind-blowing. You can apply that last adjective to the work of INSA – the British graffiti artist who began experimenting with GIFs in his work a few years ago. INSA invented the concept of GIF-ITI; paint a piece, re-paint it, and paint it again (sometimes several more times), taking a picture after each stage is completed. Then make a GIF. It might sound simple, but take the effort of painting a large scale mural and multiply it by five and you’re probably only scratching the surface. In fact, you can multiply it by a few thousand if you’re talking about INSA’s latest work, which he just completed in partnership with Ballantine’s Scotch Whisky.
As the latest extension of Ballantine’s ‘Stay True’ series, (a platform for projects inspired by the beliefs of artists and musicians), INSA and Ballantine’s decided to go big. To put it simply, they wanted to paint an artwork that could be seen from space. Then they made it happen. It’s an understatement to call the resulting work ambitious, but thankfully – as you can see below – the project was a success. With its global unveiling today, we caught up with INSA to get the artist’s thoughts on his most impressive work yet. Be sure to hit play on the video below the interview as well, where INSA outlines his process in more detail.
For the uninitiated, how would you explain GIF-ITI?
Gif-iti is something I came up with a few years ago; it’s a GIF made of my street painting but done the hard way – hand painted on location and then photographed to become a looping animation online.
Where’d you come up with the idea to go this big? You must’ve been more than aware of the labor intensity and challenges you might face?
Actually the desire to go big all came about without considering the challenges – I think if I’d thought about the obstacles first I wouldn’t even have suggested it! The idea of painting something visible from space is graffiti mentality, trying to go massive… Once you’ve started something the physical and technical challenges are part of the joy of the process.
What’s the significance of Brazil as a location for the piece?
Brazil is a place I always want to see and work in. And when coordinating the satellite for the GIF shots, we needed somewhere that had consistently good weather at the time of year [November] and after some location scouting with the team, it made perfect sense to do this in Rio, it’s such an amazingly beautiful place, I felt inspired having that view as my surroundings while painting.
What methodical differences are there between painting a 57,515m2 piece in Brazil and, say, a wall in Shoreditch? Painting on the ground must have been quite challenging at that scale?
This is the first time I’ve ever really painted large scale on the ground and the challenge at that kind of scale is huge; for example each heart was 24 metres across, and ultimately it all came down to numerous mathematical equations. A couple of days of serious measuring and calculating, without being able to step back and check that you’ve got it right… it was pretty tense. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the painting was getting it all sketched up.
You’re working in largely uncharted territory — merging the physical and digital worlds with your work. Do you feel this hybrid of real and virtual is essential in moving the art form forward?
I think moving forward in any territory is essential but this isn’t essential for moving this particular art form forward. I think the merging of physical and digital worlds pervades all aspects of our lives; so crossing these boundaries in art is paramount to me.
For you, what’s the pay off? Your artwork takes such a huge amount of effort to ultimately create a digital file without the same tangibility. Is that hard going?
I think the hard labour is essential to making the work resonate, seeing the physical action that has gone into a single digital file is what makes the work interesting. Growing up as a graffiti artist you get used to letting go of this attachment to your work, maybe there’s only a photo that will remain as a record of the work. I like that this work I’m doing exaggerates this ephemerality by painting directly over my own work instantaneously – so it only exists ultimately in its digital form.
I guess on the flip side, your artwork lives on after it is buffed…
Exactly – it lives on in the infinity of the internet.
The obvious appeal of creating GIF-ITI is its reach. You’ve taken street art from a local setting and provided a means for people around the world to experience it online with a twist. On the ground level though, you’ve also got your app. Can you explain how this works?
I created GIF-ITI to react to the fact that everything we are taking in is online, so I was trying to take my work over to this viewing platform. But now it’s come full circle, by taking the viewer back out into the real world.
The “INSA’s GIF-ITI viewer” app uses a clever system of augmented reality, allowing anyone to download it and find the walls and view the site-specific animated version in real time.
In terms of the project as a whole, how do you feel it represents the vision shared by yourself and Ballantine’s, in terms of staying true to your art while continuing to push the boundaries?
I feel it totally represents this vision; the work I created for this project is exactly what I’d have done independently – but it would’ve been impossible to fulfil this idea of mine without their help and encouragement.
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