These Dirty Cars Are Being Turned Into Masterpieces By A Local Artist

Nikita Golubev is an amazing painter based in Moscow, who is experimenting with a whole new type of public art. As you can see, he's already got a few incredible series on Instagram that showcases his interest in making work that quite literally blends with the scenery:

Golubev's new work doesn't require a pad, pencil, or watercolors. He's found a way to bring out the art in an every day object: filth.

Instead of adding onto a surface, he takes away, drawing images in the dirt encrusted on cars and trucks he finds all over the city. 

"Digging Art out of dirt," he writes in his Instagram bio, where his 78,000 followers see the before and after of his street art.

The Russian-based artist also takes his work international, tagging vehicles in Germany and other countries in Europe. And even the owners appreciated his art — even though Golubev makes it clear he would not be offended if you washed away his hard work. "That's how people care for dirty art. I did this one about a month ago, and the truck owner cares for this piece," he shared. "That's so sweet. This means it is not just a dirt anymore. I appreciate that, but still we need to learn to let it go... I am learning."

A sense of visual depth is created by how deeply he scratches into the layers of grime:

It's pretty surprising what he sometimes reveals:

Not to mention incredibly whimsical:

There seems to be no shortage of trucks in need of a wash in Moscow, and Golubev has a variety of messages for his audience:

Some are actually haunting. Can you imagine driving behind this sad face on the highway?

Or this gorilla who looks like he's trying to start a fight?

It's not easy to draw at such a huge scale, and some of them are so big he has trouble photographing them:

Though some are little and cute:

Many of them are images of plants and animals in the world, making the roadway a little bit more connected to nature:

Like this terrifying angler fish:

Or this serious cheetah:

But my favorite has to be this pop culture reference that also happens to include my personal motto:

"All cats are beautiful" is a much better message to scratch onto a dirty car than "wash me."