Saype’s coronavirus-themed grass graffiti crowns the Swiss Alps

The artwork covers 3,000 square meters and was produced with biodegradable paints made from natural pigments such as coal and chalk. Keystone / Valentin Flauraud

A French artist known for massive works of graffiti on grass best seen from the air presented his latest piece on Sunday in the Swiss Alps – a coronavirus-related picture of a girl looking towards the horizon.

The artist Saype, whose real name is Guillaume Legros, has painted his temporary, biodegradable images on lawns from Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast to the Champ de Mars next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, often depicting children or a close-up of two people’s hands gripping each other’s forearms

“Beyond crisis”, his new work on a clearing in the Swiss resort town of Leysin, shows a girl sitting, completing a chain of stick figures holding hands. “The fresco of more than 3,000 square metres evokes the building of a world with more solidarity and more humanity,” Saype said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.External link

“There are several levels of reading but the main idea is to challenge the world that will follow after the crisis, on the importance of all looking in the same direction ”, Saype told the Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA. “As with my other works, I want to convey an optimistic vision, a certain idea of living together.”

“Beyond Crisis” was carried out on the private land of a farmer at the Prafandaz pass, which overlooks Lake Geneva. Saype used his usual paint, namely a 100% biodegradable product based ion chalk and charcoal. The lifespan of his work will depend on the weather and the regrowth of the grass. 

“I estimate it between two weeks to a month,” the artists told Keystone-SDA.

In 2019, Saype was listed by ForbesExternal link among the 30 most influential European personalities under the age of 30 in field of art and culture.