Nikita Golubev: Dirty art at its finest

Nikita Golubev lives in Moscow, digs in the dirt every day, and is followed by a large number of people who are more or less enthusiastic about what he does.

And yet, the socially disturbed contemporaries who eagerly devour this article about

a) a Moscow pimp of the lowest caliber (apparently some people believe that pimps with class exist)
b) a Moscow official who is heavily involved in corruption,

bitterly disappointed by the artist Nikita Golubev:

His dirt is on a truck, the longer it hasn't been cleaned, the better; and Nikita Golubev “rummages in the dirt” because he uses the dirty trucks as a canvas for his art .

Fascinating paintings emerge on these dark surfaces, which tell a story of overwork and exploitation, indifference and neglect.

With themes/motifs that transport you to a better world for a moment:

• "Surfer"
• “Blue Lilies”

Or works that open up mental excursions into completely different worlds:

• "Octopus"
• "Crocodile"

Or images that briefly prompt reflection, wonder, and admiration in the middle of the street:

• "Prayer"
• “Shark”

Or paintings that are simply beautiful:

• "Owl"
• “Pigeons”

Nikita Golubev: Dirty Car Art / Dirty Paintings made in Russia

The talented Russian street artist Nikita Golubev has developed a unique technique for creating his artwork. Instead of using traditional canvas or paper, he uses the dusty surfaces of cars as his canvas.

Using his brushes and fingers, he paints impressive images in the dirt of the cars. He calls these fascinating works "Dirt Paintings ." By using the natural dust and grime on the vehicles, he creates incredible contrasts and textures that immediately capture the viewer's eye.

What makes this Dirty Car Art even more interesting is its mobility . Once Nikita Golubev has completed his work, the cars roll through the city streets, proudly displaying his creative vision for everyone to see. People can admire this unconventional form of art as they go about their daily lives.

However, these ephemeral masterpieces are not permanent. With the next rain shower or simply through the accumulation of new dust, the dirt paintings gradually disappear from the car. This gives them a certain transience and uniqueness – because only those who are in the right place at the right time can enjoy this fleeting art.

Nikita Golubev's talent lies in creating beautiful images from something as commonplace as dirty car paint.

His work also shows us another side of street art – that you don't always have to use traditional materials or surfaces to create art. His dirty car art is proof that creativity knows no bounds and can be found everywhere – even on the dusty streets of our cities.

In a world saturated with graffiti and murals, Nikita Golubev's Dirt Paintings stand out and capture people's attention. They are not only an interesting visual experience but also a reminder that beauty is often found in unexpected places – you just have to look closely.

Figurative allusions & bitterly ironic humor

Sometimes there is also bitter irony, allusion, and confusion involved, but we don't want to spoil the fun of discovering Nikita Golubev's work for yourself on the street or online.

Nikita Golubev's artistic pseudonym is "ProBoyNick" (Instagram: @proboynick ) and can be found on every one of his works.

Or rather, in almost every one of his works, because Golubev sometimes encounters difficulties while painting one of his truck scenes. Truck drivers work under conditions that very often force them to sleep in their cabs.

Especially during the overnight stay, the truck stands around as a “perfect canvas”, which is why Golubev has made it a “pre-breakfast routine” to roam the neighborhood every morning from six o'clock in search of target objects.

As soon as he finds what he's looking for, a piece of dirt is transformed into a piece of art. Normally, the half hour Golubev needs for a painting is peacefully slept away by the driver. But of course, it can happen that the driver has just woken up, or is tired but has a long drive ahead of him, and now notices with surprise that someone is painting on his truck.

How do vehicle owners react?

“Before breakfast” isn’t the best time for most people to enjoy art, and besides: It’s a tricky situation for a truck driver, especially if it’s not his own truck: Will the boss approve? Could the picture cause trouble? Is it art if someone paints something on a truck?

Does it concern me if it's art ? When these thoughts race through the unwashed, not yet coffee-tuned head while Golubev is still painting, one can easily imagine that truck drivers might get stressed.

On the other hand, truck drivers are, in the truest sense of the word, worldly-wise and not so easily flustered, and so Golubev has only encountered a few drivers “Dirt Painter”

“Someone wanted to forbid me from painting.”

The artist explained in an interview, “But he was very small and I’m very tall…”. As a small act of revenge, this driver then removed ProBoyNick’s signature, but the image remained.

It's safe to assume that most truck drivers only start to enjoy their art-themed truck once they've had their morning coffee... Now, the legally informed citizen knows, of course, that painting officially constitutes criminal damage – but firstly, liberal-minded judges can reject criminal liability, for example, by denying intent (because intent is hardly present here; Nikita Golubev wants to damage the dirt, not the truck), and secondly, in such conflicts, the transparency that all nations have been increasingly imposing on their states since the advent of the internet is slowly becoming noticeable.

Legal, illegal, who cares?

Imagine the truck painter in Germany. Persecuted by a public prosecutor's office that, due to being overworked, is unable to arrest a known extremist before he kills 12 people at the Berlin Christmas market?

Quickly arresting the artist now increasingly no longer leads to a sufficient improvement of the workload with the motto "We are doing something," but only to more trouble when the remaining investigative (mostly public broadcasting) journalists take up the story.

More transparency therefore leads to more freedom for individuals who do something unusual and may be operating on the edge of legality, but do not harm anyone, while state bodies are encouraged by public pressure to first take care of the important aspects of their work.

The dirt, transformed into art, sometimes rolls around for quite some time, even though the artist's unusual imaginative exercise isn't about creating imperishable art. Nevertheless, far from it "all blurred or washed away in the next rain," the dirt on the trucks seems to form stable chemical compounds that appear to preserve Golubev's art for considerable periods. One could easily find entire photo series online documenting the creation and decay of Nikita Golubev's art; the crocodile, for example, certainly wasn't painted just last week.

Golubev's street paintings, which demonstrate extraordinary talent, are wiped into the dusty surfaces of the trucks with his finger, and he very rarely uses any paint other than the dirt he finds for his Dirt Paintings .

Nikita Golubev isn't on any international art ranking list, he doesn't have a gallery for his paintings; he creates art that is truly free, art for art's sake. He also grants truck and car drivers a bit of freedom: anyone who doesn't feel like cleaning their car can now claim they're driving around with a canvas for a "street artist .

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and Managing Director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor, and passionate blogger in the fields of art, design, and creativity since 2011. Graduated with a degree in web design from university (2008). Further developed creative techniques through courses in freehand drawing, expressive painting, and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market gained through years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with key players and institutions in the arts and culture sector.

www.kunstplaza.de