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Coffee and art have intersected in a host of interesting ways, but perhaps none quite as striking as these. As CNN reports, Ivory Coast artist Médéric Turay uses coffee to create his moving works, and they are fetching a pretty penny, upwards of $13,000.

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Coffee is one of the main exports of the Ivory Coast, and Turay uses it a medium to celebrate his birthplace. A former nominee for Best Rap Artist at the Ivory Coast MTV Music Awards, Turay see his art rooted in an African tradition but blended with more modern stylings:

I have those two combinations of cultures struggling in my soul. I think my paintings reflect that because you can see something very African in them, but also a very contemporary style, like street art.

In order to use the coffee, Turay adds glue to it, creating something more akin to acrylic paint. He then adds colored paper to work it into layers until “the face beings to appear by itself.” The results are undeniable gorgeous.

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14 of Turay’s pieces can be seen via the CNN slideshow and another handful are up at the webiste for London’s Saatchi Gallery.

Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.

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