Graffiti into gif-iti – animated gifs give life to street art online

There has been a lot of talk about traditional art going digital, of how artists are now looking to sell art online and buyers buy art online. Yet few would have considered the possibility of taking street art online and further into the digital world. Lucky for us, there are some forward thinking street artists who are happy to explore new technologies and techniques in the hope of giving their work an extended life and broader meaning online.

INSA, a fine artist and designer with a strong graffiti background, recently joined forces with Melbourne’s Rone, renowned for his stylised images of ‘girls’ faces, to create an animated Gif-iti piece. Insa was one of the first to develop the technique and continues to push the boundaries of this new, digital extension of street art.

“Iv’e loved what he has been doing with his patented GIF-iti technique so when he asked me to make one with him I thought great! until I realised I had to paint the same thing in the exact same place 4 times! A lot of hard work for 600 pixel looping animation but I’m stoked with the way it came out.” – Rone

The process of creating a piece of gif-iti, of taking street art online in a new and engaging way, is time consuming and technically demanding. For the piece to truly come to life, everything must align perfectly. The camera, the light, and of course the art. And in every case, the bigger and more detailed the piece of the art, the more difficult it becomes to realise in Gif form.

Below are the four images that constitute the Gif-iti, and below them, the final product. Unmistakable are INSA’s graphic, checkered background and Rone’s striking female portrait. Each of the still images is captivating in and of itself, but when viewed together as a Gif-iti, the end product is somewhat magical, making it difficult to look away.

It is truly an exciting time for art, with new technology and techniques moving us in ways we would never have imagined. We at artFido love traditional forms of art and will always promote putting paint on canvas and pencil to paper. But we are also equally excited about the possibilities of discovering and sharing new forms of artistic expression. Because the world is just a better place with more art in it.