Social fallout inspires an art wave on Greece's streets

ATHENS: From political slogans scrawled on the walls to works of street art in run-down neighbourhoods, Greece's economic crisis is inspiring graffiti that probe acute social themes ahead of Sunday's elections.

Ghoulish drawings of gas masks, portraits of suffering Greeks and invectives against the International Monetary Fund or Germany now plaster many walls in Athens alongside more fantastical images of monsters and gang-style tags.

"Every work I do is a statement," one of the most prominent artists of this new wave, who prefers to keep his anonymity and goes by the name "Bleeps", said on a night-time tour of areas now heavy with drug dealers and petty thieves.

A recent topical work he drew on a street corner is of a saintly female figure clutching a bag of euros representing Greece's international bailout.

In a reflection of the wider impact of his work, someone has since written on the figure in a black marker: "You keep your jewellery, but still you bow."

Another work on a wall in the Psyri market district shows a man with an animal head in a cage which bears a resemblance to the Greek parliament.

"It's called 'Rage in the Constitutional Cage'," said Bleeps -- a bearded 30-something who left behind a career in dentistry to devote himself to art.

The figure wears a shirt with the anarchy symbol because "from my point of view Greece at the moment is on the edge of going into anarchy."

In a parking lot in the area, Bleeps has drawn a beautiful woman in a bikini with an amputated leg alongside the slogan: "Greece Next Economic Model."

One of his works shows a classical Greek statue holding a placard reading "Vote for No One". In another, which has been scrawled over by neo-Nazi graffiti, a woman holds a sign reading: "Knowledge is Powerlessness".

Street art has flowered in recent years in neighbourhoods like Psyri and Exarchia, which has a large student population and has seen violent clashes over the shooting of a 15-year-old in 2008 and protests on social and political issues.

One large composition which covers the side of a house in the area shows an angry mob against an army of robots with portraits of US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel watching from clouds in the sky.