Graffiti gets 'Zapped'

VILNIUS -- A square in Vilnius, which found a bizarre form of fame several years ago when a statue of American musician Frank Zappa was erected there, is enjoying a second wave of artistic expression as the venue for an art exhibition.

Until now, the Zappa monument had been surrounded by walls sprayed with illegal graffiti of varying degrees of quality, but in recent days, art students have transformed the square with their own original artworks in a bid to "inspire more culture" into chaotic street art.

"Some illegal graffiti have been painted over, others were incorporated into new drawings and the new square has become more beautiful than it had been to this day. There are lots of flat planes there, and each plane became a sort of a separate drawing, however all compositions are united in a spirit of the oeuvre of Frank Zappa: a bit of irony, some humor and joie de vivre", one of the initiators of the project, photographer Saulius Paukstys, told BNS.

In the opinion of Paukstys, the "cultured" square should become a bigger attraction for locals and tourists.

The monument for Zappa was built in 1996 by his Lithuanian fans.

Zappa (1940-1993) was an iconoclastic American composer, guitarist, singer, and film director. He is credited with releasing the first conceptual rock music album and also enjoyed critical acclaim for his work in the psychedelic, jazz, avant-garde and electronic musical spheres.