Top French urban artist creates eye-catching mural in Kutaisi

A new piece of urban graffiti art by an acclaimed French mural artist is pleasing the eyes of residents in Kutaisi, the capital city of western Georgia's Imereti region.

The large and colourful image, showing a female cartoon character on the facade of a house in the central city, was created by a street artist born in Toulouse, France, who goes by the name Vinie.

Resembling pin-up art characters and drawn in a mix of monochrome and full colours, Vinie’s new piece has already captured the attention of locals.

Works by Vinie have been praised for their use of local vegetation as part of the composition. Photo from Vinie Graffiti/Facebook.

The graffiti work was spotted in Kutaisi by Georgian photographer and activist Goga Chanadiri, who shared the image with his social media followers.

Vinie has been noted by culture and lifestyle websites for her emergence in the street art field, which has up until recent times been predominantly the domain of male artists.

[W]omen like Faith47 or Vinie are trying to change the status quo, putting their own empowering spin on the male-dominated graffiti art form and getting good attention," wrote a feature about Vinie’s works by www.kickassthings.com.

Urban art by French artist Vinie. Photo from Vinie Graffiti/Facebook.

In another article on the French artist, urban and contemporary art website www.widewalls.ch said Vinie had become recognised for a "unique and playful style of work".

The creator worked in her native Toulouse before moving to France’s capital Paris. Her work is frequently featured at public expos and in urban spaces in France.

A series of murals appeared in Georgia's capital Tbilisi and other cities, including works by local artists in the seaside city Batumi, last year.