Georgian street artist wins praise for poignant UK piece

Georgia’s most prolific street artist is making his mark in the United Kingdom (UK) and cementing himself among the world’s most renowned urban artists.

The unidentified Tbilisi-born man, only known as Dr. Love, has been praised by street art websites and social networks across Europe and beyond after featuring at Europe’s largest street painting and graffiti festival earlier this year.

In recent months Dr Love’s name and latest piece has featured in a range of online art pages, from the French group FatCap to Dutch collective Amsterdam Street Art. Brazilian website Mega Curioso also praised the Georgian artist and named his mural in its top 10 list of Extremely Creative Street Art.

The piece in question – a hospital patient receiving oxygen from a tree – was part of the three-day Upfest Festival in Bristol, UK, in July, which saw more than 250 international artists gather to paint in 28 venues across the southern English city.

The Georgian painter – known in his home nation for his thought provoking murals painted in the street of capital Tbilisi and seaside Batumi – created his festival piece on the subject of air pollution.

The Georgian artist used moss to add texture to his latest piece. Photo by Matt Cardy/GettyImages.

To illustrate the growing global problem of air pollution, Dr. Love painted the piece in his typical stencil style but added moss to give additional texture to his artwork.

The mural featured at the Bristol festival alongside of other street art creations that spanned over nearly 2,800 m2 of space, painted in various techniques, materials and subject matters over walls in Bristol, the hometown of famed urban artist Banksy.

Dr. Love’s ‘Sea selfie’ in Georgia’s seaside town Batumi is the largest piece of mural art in the country.

Born in Tbilisi, Dr. Love started working with stencil art in 2010. Over the years he has become increasingly popular, with murals popping up all over the capital city bearing his name.