Complicated Visions: The Amazing Street Art of DALeast

DALeAST was born in Beijing, China in 1984 and is currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. One of the most promising artists of the new international scene, he is a painter, photographer, sculptor and video maker. Typically, he uses different mediums, methods, disciplines and spaces to create his works. While his traditional paintings are astonishing, today I’m focusing on his amazingly complex street art.

He began doing street art at 2004 under the alias DAL and his work quickly became representative of a new wave in street art. If Banksy played the sarcastic guerrilla minimalist, DALeast works in the bold strokes of a master painter, using entire surfaces to present his creations. DAL’s street work contains a reflection on the balance of power through composition, representing the empty space, leaving emotions uncovered.

His stunning, large-scale murals play on notions of the natural and the artificial. Predominantly using animals as his subjects, DAL renders whales, lions and other powerful beasts with lines that appear reflective, like the tape from a cassette. An eternally long strip seems to wrap around an unfathomable number of times to form these creatures, making us wonder whether they are really animals at all despite their dynamic movement.

In his work, DALeast combines the multidisciplinary approach and a critical vision of the contemporary artist with the spirit of urban art that plays with architectural elements and perspectives. He is inspired by the way the material world revolves, how the spiritual world unfolds, and the infinite space around us.

I find his work truly amazing. I don’t know how he does it. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the work of DALeast.

No Surrender, Paris, France

Breaking Tempo B, Windhoek, Namibia

Deer, Slovakia

Sagging Idiom, Wuhan, China

Noah, Cape Town, South Africa

Meteors, New York City

22 Meters, Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa

Parking E, Cape Town, South Africa

Ciguo, Johannesburg, South Africa

Rest Street, Reunion Island, France

Polly, Cape Town, South Africa

Brooklyn, New York City

Powder, Reunion Island, France

Kelpie, Montry, France

Parking D, Cape Town, South Africa

Parasite 1, Wuhan, China

C, Melun, France

No.108, Tin Town, Cape Town, South Africa

Parasite S, Hangzhou, China

Deer Park, Cape Town, South Africa

T4, Shanghai, China

Discount Evolution, Rochester, New York

Tesla, Cologne, Germany

Breaking Tempo A, Windhoek, Namibia

Amateur Promise, Melbourne, Australia

Full Moon, Cape Town, South Africa

Crescent Moon, Beijing, China

Desert Rose, Aarhus, Denmark

Warmup, New York

Milestone, Cape Town, South Africa

Bananananas, Cape Town, South Africa

Guang, Johannesburg, South Africa

Press Zero, Sion, Swizerland

Zig Zag, Sion, Swizerland

Adrenalin, Cape Town, South Africa

Mosquito, Johannesburg, South Africa

Retirement, Wuhan, China

Imperial Blind, Rochester, New York

PD, Aarhus, Denmark

Springboks, Cape Town, South Africa