In London

A very quick post from London where I'm visiting English relatives and catching the chance to have a look at some street art. Banksy of course is the best known--though ironically he's of course the enigmatic incognito artist whose real identity nobody knows(or so they say). And he also happens to be the one most influenced by the classic French street artists(he's cited Blek le Rat as probably his greatest influence). He is very cool, a sharp eye and fine wit and mostly with lots of social and/or political engagement, but not always obvious. Sometimes like with the kids with the no-ball sign, it's just joyous and poetic. Always, it's cocking a snook at dull and dulling authority and pompous little napoleons and empecheurs-de-tourner-en-rond, as we say in France!

Banksy's website: http://www.banksy.co.uk

I must say though that while I really love a lot of what he does and he's very clever and imaginative, there's a certain slickness about the way he operates which is sort of different to how the Paris street artists operate. I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing but there's a lot more hype around him than there is say around Nemo or even Blek le Rat, there's a lot more commercial razzmatazz which is maybe not of his manufacturing but I can't help feeling it goes against the grain of street art. Or maybe I'm just biased cos the Paris street artists are my first and true love!

New street art friends

Been meaning to say for a while how cool and exciting it is that some great street artists are adding me as friends on Facebook. It's a big honor for me as a big fan of street art and really makes me feel part of the scene.

There's VLP, Vive La Peinture(that's at the top), two fabulous artists who have an awesome expo called Wall Street Art going at the moment at Galerie Keller, 13 rue Keller, 75011, Paris. They had the launch on November 5 which also was the launch of a really cool book about them as well as the expo, I couldn't go to it cos I was away but I've caught up with it since, it's fantastic, you should go!! It's on till December 5 so still a few weeks to go.

Then there's the great stencil and graffiti artist(and photographer) Jinks Kunst with his bold, creative works, which have so much to say(see bottom pic). Have a look at his site at http://jinkstencil.jimdo.com/

Bloggers' hiatus

I've come to the feeling blogging is a bit like the diaries you are determined to keep on New Year's Day and in a burst of enthusiasm you write in it every day for ages--or like for at least a week!--and then the entries get fewer and fewer as life, the stuff that's supposed to be in those diaries, keeps interfering and just won't stay still long enough to be noted down! Anyway that's my excuse. Sorry, guys, for being such a crap blogger of late, but things have really been hotting up here in my personal life and then I've had to do a fair bit of travel as well but I will try and do this a bit more often, the blogging, I mean!

Hospital capers!

Here's a cool video of Jerome Mesnager creating some new work for the Auberge du Jour' or day-rooms, of the Saint- Antoine hospital in the 12th arrondissement : http://www.dailymotion.com/hopital-saint-antoine
More photos here
Fabulous stuff--and you don't even have to be sick to go have a look at it! Whatever, though, it's bound to make you feel better!

Polaroid pochoir

Caught up with the coolest thing the other day--Jana and JS' polaroid-inspired pochoirs, which have been springing up all over Parisian walls in the last few months. They're a young couple--Jana is German and JS is French--and their work has this great quality of immediacy and thought-provoking juxtaposition: they often show themselves or other people clicking away with cameras in the midst of landscapes of misery and ruin and war(but no other people to be seen.) Very interesting and original stuff.

The work of Jana & Js is also being honored along with Jef Aerosol's at the Festival Artcite in Fontenay-sous-Bois. From Monday, September 28 to Saturday, October 17, 2009. So if you're in Paris get yourself over there before it ends!

Check out the artists' website at: http://janaundjs.com/

Brussels interlude

It's been a while since I wrote a post, sorry for the 'silence radio!' I've been very busy with a holiday job which has taken up all my time. But I am jumping on now to write a quick post about a trip to Brussels I managed to squeeze in last weekend with friends. We had a lot of fun there and lots of good food--moules et frites et biere was certainly not the only thing(though very good)! Brussels is a very cool city, very nice-looking and buzzy and of course it has some great street art, different to Paris(though there is some pochoir stuff and some of the Parisians have painted in Brussels too).
Belgium has of course long been known for its fantastic comic-book art, it's known as the 'Neuvieme Art' or Ninth Art there and they take it very seriously, not surprisingly, in the land of Tintin and Lucky Luke and the Smurfs! I had a fantastic time in the Centre Belge de la Bande dessinee(Belgian Comic Strip Center)which has great expos and an awesome library, you just have to see it if you're in Brussels: http://www.comicscenter.net/en/home
Because Brussels is so much the home of comic-strip art, it is not surprising that a lot of its street art echoes the comic-strip and cartoons, with several murals also paying homage to the greats like Herge. You can go on a comic-strip street art tour, too, which is quite fun. There's all sorts of other styles to spot though too.

Wall of dreams of Montreuil

There's a great post on that wonderful site I follow, La Panse de l'Ours, http://www.lapanse.com/

which is about a truly beautiful enterprise--the Montreuil Wall of Dreams. For those of you who can't read the original French on La Panse, the inhabitants of Montreuil(an area of Paris)were asked by their municipality--What do you dream about? The results--whether poem, photo, a few words, a slogan, whatever--were put in a ''Dream Box''. Then local artists, like Nemo, Mirk, Loco, AnitaLjung and others, were asked to transpose those dreams and wishes into a glorious fresco. The fresco has utterly transformed an ugly concrete wall at the exit of the A3 freeway and the entry into the Branly-Boissiere neighbourhood of Montreuil, into a Mur a Reves, or ''Wall of Dreams'', a thing of beauty, imagination and joy. La Panse has some wonderful pictures of the whole thing. Go and look!

Fantastic! Bravo to everyone concerned! If only municipalities everywhere were as imaginative!