For Valerie-Jael

Valerie-Jael at the blog Bastelmania often posts photos of the ephemeral chalk drawings by Ann Arbor artist David Zinn. As I live in Ann Arbor, I’ve managed to see a few of these drawings in the thirty-odd years that he’s been providing them for the entertainment of our city. During these years, he was also pursuing a career as a cartoonist, illustrator, and commercial artist. However, as the drawings are mainly made in chalk, they don’t last very long.

In 2014, David Zinn painted a magnificent — and long-lasting — mural on the wall of a downtown parking garage, depicting Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain. Here it is, as I recently saw it while walking up Fourth Street:

Gene Kelly and the lamppost, singing in the rain. I’ve showed it before, but I want Valerie-Jael to see it again.

As always with David Zinn’s work, there’s a tricky part. The lamppost is not where it seems to be.

Here’s my brother Arny with Gene Kelly and the lamppost: showing how it really is.

From David Zinn’s website: the artist chalking one of his more typical works.

David Zinn says of himself: “David Zinn has been creating original artwork in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan since 1987. For more than twenty years, he freelanced for a wide variety of commercial clients while simultaneously sneaking “pointless” art into the world at large. … David’s temporary street drawings are composed entirely of chalk, charcoal and found objects, and are always improvised on location through a process known (to almost no one) as ‘ephemeral pareidolic anamorphosis.’”

Blog post © 2024 mae sander