Some more street art

Some more street art examples, photos taken here and there, now and then, and which I believe I have not already published.

Let’s first remember that this type of art is often ephemeral. Here are first two photos of the same wall, taken with a few weeks’ interval.

Some people are not too happy to see some blind walls covered like this. Let’s then remember that today it’s mostly done with the approval by people who live there and often is supported by local authorities…. and that a few decades ago these walls were already covered – by publicity.

Street art, graffiti ... again

A building, which soon will be demolished on the Seine quays (close to the new National Library) has been invaded, outside and inside by street artists. This has been done in an authorized and organized way and the place can be visited during the month of October. The project is referred to as “La Tour du 13e”.  More than hundred artists from 16 different nations participate. I’m a bit of a fan of (good) street art and was of course tempted.

I tried to go there twice (so far). Seeing the long waiting lines the first time, I decided to go back another day. I was there one hour before opening hour and the waiting lines did already make the tour of the building. There was a written message that after a specific point there was no chance to get in during the day. Here you can see the lines beyond this point. Consequently I decided not to insist.

On the net I could find a few examples of what I missed to see from the interior.

This building is thus in the 13^th arrondissement. This is not, architecturally, the most attractive arrondissement in Paris… a lot of dull buildings from the 60’s and the 70’s, but it’s improving.

… but, this is an area where street artist have been encouraged, sponsored, to decorate, officially and in large format, some buildings. To console myself from the disappointment of not being able to enter the “Tour 13”, I made a little walk around the arrondissement. Here are a few examples of what I found. (I added the name of the artist, when I found it.) There are many more … which I have to find. 

“Obey” (Shephard Fairy) got especially known for the 2008 “Hope-Barack Obama” campaign poster. “C215” (Christian Guémy) made a cat here, but is better known for portraits of people.

Locally, the most well-known may be “jana & js”, which you find a lot of around Paris, but they definitely work successfully internationally.

The works of the Chilean “Inti” can also be found worldwide.

I was impressed by “Vhils” (Alexander Farto). He has a special technique of chipping and sawing away pieces on walls to basically make portraits.

“M-City” has made a large number of monumental works all over the world. See also the top picture.

Here is a map of what I found and where. 

Street art ... again.

During the 1990’s, the shop owners in Rue Cavalotti – on the fringes of Montmartre - decided to make something to hopefully escape from tagging on their front stores. They asked some urban artists to make illustrations, inspired by some famous painters.

I made a post about it in June 2007 … and another one in September 2007, where we could see that in the meantime the taggers had destroyed most of the efforts.

Now, supported by some official (including the mayoralty of 18th arrondissement) and private initiatives, the stores have been cleaned and decorated in a different way, inspired by posters for the nearby music halls, theatres, cinemas…, as they were a century or a few decades ago. (A few of them remain.) The “inauguration” took place mid-October. Hopefully the taggers will pay a bit more respect to this effort.

Another sign that urban artists are getting some official support took place end October. Again supported by among others the local mayoralty (11th arrondissement), some urban artists had decorated a number of front stores on Rue de la Folie Méricourt and the Mayor invited some urban art fans – like me - to an official “opening”. This was a normal week day and of course the stores were temporarily closed just for a demonstration. To see them, you should rather come back late in the evening or a Sunday. Some of the artists were present and posed in front of the stores … and it all ended by a nice gathering around some wine and small things to eat … and with an official nice and optimistic inauguration speech by the Mayor (also MP).

 

"The Wall"

Some of you may have understood that I’m quite interested in Urban Art, Street Art… , when it’s done properly at adapted places. There have been a number of posts on this type of art already.

Street Art is today getting some support from local authorities, sponsors, with special events like the “Lézarts de la Bièvre” … Another example is “Le Mur” (The Wall), which you can find on Rue Oberkampf. It all started a bit unofficially, when a billboard situated here was more and more often used by street artists. This became “accepted” and since four years it’s “official”, even sponsored or supported by the City of Paris, the Cartier Foundation, Centre Pompidou, Canal+… and administered by an association, M.U.R. (Modulable Urbain Réactif). Some administration is needed; so many artists would like to expose here, although their creations mostly will be replaced by another one after a week or two.

I went there last week and met one of the more well known urban artists, FKDL … (I found that the young lady, leaving the nearby café for a phone call, fitted well to the background.)

…. just before his collages would be replaced by a creation by JANA & JS (janaundjs). It was more or less raining and getting dark, but there was a small crowd to watch the progress of the work, including some representatives of M.U.R., some other urban artists, a friend who has a blog specialized on urban art and also can accompany during a walk in some interesting areas of Paris (see her site) … and of course Jana and JS.

Le Monde

As we know, Le Monde is a leading French newspaper. A few years ago, they moved from more central premises to modern facilities at Boulevard Blanqui. The facade is spectacular.

Following a start last year, the newspaper organized again last weekend a meeting called “Le Monde des livres”, “livres” meaning books. A number of authors were invited to talk and to be interviewed about their recent publications. There were also some sessions, where actors and actresses read extracts. I could not be present the whole weekend so of course I missed a few performances, including the ones of Umberto Eco and the newspaper’s cartoonist, Plantu.

I had the at least the chance to listen to actor Fabrice Lucchini and to philosopher – and former minister of education – Luc Ferry.

The organizers had invited some artists to expose works related to printed matters.

One of them was FKDL (Franck Duval), who executed four collages during the weekend. FKDL is one of the urban artists to whom I have now and then related in my different posts about Paris street art.

I visited FKDL’s studio recently and came home with a collage, which is now on one of my walls. Luc Ferry kindly made a kind dedication in his recent – and most interesting – book, “La revolution de l’amour”. (Photo taken by a friend.)

I wish you a nice weekend!

Urban artists at work.

I have often posted about urban art, graffiti… Here is one more.

Close to Place de Clichy is a theatre, called “L’Européen”, almost 140 years old. Today it’s basically used for concerts, one-man-shows… Since some five years, the façade was decorated by some well-known urban artists. In collaboration with a gallery specialized in urban art (see previous post), the arrondissement (17th) and the theatre, the initiative was taken to renew the experience and get some fresh decoration.

This is what the façade looked like some two years ago - and more or less so until recently, when, in order to prepare for the new performance, the facade was painted in white.

Last Saturday, we could thus observe “Jef Aérosol” (Jean-François Perroy) and “Mosko et associés” (Gérard Laux) in operation. You can see them discuss and plan the day on the top picture.

These pictures should allow you to see how they respectively proceed, the techniques used….

… and their “signatures”, including the famous red arrows by “Jef Aérosol”.

Another famous urban artist, Jérôme Mesnager, had already painted some of his well-known white bodies, but produced obviously more for the interior of the theatre. We could also see “FKDL” (Franck Duval), although he did not participate – but had left one of his collages at the entrance of a neighbour building. The French readers will certainly also recognize Richard Bohringer, who at present performs at the theatre. You see him talking to the artists and the theatre manager.

Finally, I show you what the theatre facade looked like when the work was finished. A wall opposite to the theatre was also decorated. As you can see from my other posts, the work of all these urban artists can be seen all around Paris … and elsewhere, would it be London, NYC, the Chinese Wall…

Addendum:

Refeering to the above post, I got nice messages from Jef and Mosko, including a link to this video. When you see Jef talk, it's actually in a discussion with me.