Paris, an open-air museum of urban art

With the de-escalation, Paris gradually resumes its cultural life, frozen during the confinement by the coronavirus. Waiting for the great museums to open their doors throughout June and July and for the arrival of tourists, Parisians discover or rediscover urban art.

The streets of Paris are home to a huge open-air museum of street art and graffiti. Considered vandalism for some and art for others, urban art is everywhere. Thanks to him, Paris constantly changes its skin . An explosion of color in an often gray and rainy city.

"Paris is full of works (of urban art) and its nearby periphery too: Vitry (sur Seine), Saint Denis, Montreuil ... It is a city that can be explored through street art , which we find in different neighborhoods and under different formats ", explains Stéphanie Lombard, author of the Guide to Street Art in Paris (Editorial Alternatives), whose 2020-2021 edition has just gone on sale in France.

To see urban art in Paris, you don't have to pay a ticket or stand in line. You just have to walk the streets and keep your eyes open . One can discover it on their own or on an organized visit with a specialized guide

Exploring urban art allows you to get off the beaten track and discover other lesser-known neighborhoods while respecting social distancing in times of pandemic.

From the heart of Paris to picturesque Montmartre, the bohemian painters' quarter, passing through the districts of Oberkampf, Belleville and Ménilmontant and the banks of the Canal de l'Ourcq. You can visit rue Dénoyez, a street taken by graffiti artists that resists real estate speculation; discover the feminist street art of the Butte-aux-Cailles neighborhood; or photograph the monumental frescoes of Boulevard Paris 13, an almost obligatory visit for lovers of urban art.

Unknown graffiti artists coexist with local artists and great international stars of urban art such as Banksy or Shepard Fairey, better known in street art as Obey and author of the iconic Hope poster of Barack Obama's first election campaign.

Among the best urban artists in the capital: Speedy Graphito, Blek le Rat, Seth, the artist Miss Tic, Jérôme Mesnager and the ubiquitous Invader (with 1,442 works in the capital ) and their pixelated ceramic mosaics. "There are many. Personally, I like the work of Mister Pee, Le CyKlop, JBC, Ardif, Madame Mustache, FKDL ... ", says Stéphanie Lombard, a specialist in Parisian street art .

" Chuuuttt !!! ", Jef Aérosol's giant self-portrait, calls for silence from a wall located in Igor Stravinsky Square, next to the Pompidou Center. Next to it, Obey's The future is unwritten and a giant Invader mosaic coexist with the colorful Stravinsky fountain, the work of sculptors Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle.

The artist Ender has had the honor of "unconfiguring" the Oberkampf wall, managed by the Le MUR association. This association organizes 24 artistic performances a year on a legal wall located in the popular Oberkampf neighborhood where you can see live at French and international artists creating their works . "Our objectives are to animate the neighborhood, bring art to the greatest number of people and allow artists to live from their work", explains Maddalena Gilles of this Parisian association.

The Boulevard Paris 13 project, the result of the collaboration of the Galerie Intinerrance and the city council of the XIII district of the capital, is a true open-air museum of urban art. Some thirty urban artists - among them Invader, the British D * Face, Seth, Conor Harrington, Hush and Daleast - have painted giant frescoes on bland facades of social housing.

Among the works are a cat painted by C215; Obey's fresco "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" in tribute to the victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015 in France; and Love won't tear us apart , the fresco by the British D * Face in which a blonde woman and a disfigured man (symbol of past love but that remain in memory) embrace.

In the last decade, Parisian urban art has matured as it has become institutionalized. Has it lost its essence? Has it ceased to be a spontaneous art? "The two coexist and it is from my positive point of view. For example, we can discover a lot of renowned artists in the buildings of the (district) XIII and we are also pleased to discover works that have been spontaneously pasted in Paris," he says. Lombard.

"When an artist has something to express and when we like her work, we enjoy seeing her works in a gallery, on a legal wall, as well as taking a walk through the city," concludes Gilles.

In accordance with the criteria of The Trust Project

• culture
• art
• France

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