Ememem Repairs European Streets and Potholes With Ceramic Flacking

ememem ceramic flacking IIHIH

Artist Ememem beautifies the streets of Europe with what he calls ceramic “flacking”; using artistic and decorative tiles to fill potholes and cracks in the old streets, sidewalks and buildings.

Ememem Ceramic Flacking

french street artist

In France, Spain, Italy and Norway, to name a few, you may spot Ememem’s colorful ceramic work in unexpected places. Used to fill in broken asphalt, cracked cement or crumbling stairs, the tile art varies in shapes, colors and styles.

sidewalk art

ememem ceramic flacking

repairing potholes with art

In the US, we have an artistic pothole filler of our own, Chicago artist Jim Bachor, who also works in ceramics, creating contemporary pop culture mosaics in situ and as art objects. The Lyon-based Ememem, however, uses a different style for his street repair.

ememem ceramic flacking art

street art

pothole repairs with art

here lies a pothole
translation: Here lies a pothole

He mixes tile shapes, sizes, styles and colors in his work so that the patterns vary in type and provenance. His tile installations are reminiscent of everything from old Roman mosaics (like Bachor’s) to classic Portuguese tiles and French tile work to New York Subway Tiling and Pop Art.

tile work

Ceramic flacking Lyon

The artist began repairing the streets and sidewalks in his home town of Lyon in 2016 with his work and has since filled cracks, divots and gouges in Madrid, Barcelona, Torino, Genova, Genoa and other European cities.

using tiles to repair potholes

street art

pothole art

Old Roman school flacking Lyon Amphitheater

here lies a tree lyon ememem

tile art by ememem

In 2018 he was commissioned to create installations for the NuArt Festival, an annual street art tour in Stavanger, Norway.

ceramic tile street art
A Door to Wonderland, Norway, 2018
tile work
Ice Cream and Ememem, Norway, 2018
tiling around street grate
It’s Raining, Norway, 2018

You can see how over time Ememem’s installations have become more refined and more complex, including glazed, gilded and glass tiles.

lyon place de terreaux 2020

ceramic tile art

Shown at top:
flacking in Paris George Pompidou Centre 2020

all images courtesy of the artist

See more of his work here