#parismurals

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"ART IS NOT DEAD"

by Marko93

Growing up in a working-class suburb north of Paris Marko93 embraced graffiti as a means of expression. With the discovery of Arabic calligraphy he soon began to reinvent his identity. As street art entered the mainstream art world Marko explored new pictorial avenues, combining his complex calligraphy with both human and animal forms, as well as making a name for himself with both light paintings and body painting. A regular participant in the @dacruzgraffiti curated @OurcqLivingColors festival in Paris's 19th arrondissement Marko added these chimps on Rue Germaine Tailleferre in 2016.  @marko93darkvapor/

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"KEY AND LOCK"

by Cart'1

“As far back as I can remember, I have always loved 3D and trompe l'oeil” Cart'1 told @GrenobleStreetArtFest . A graffiti artist since 1989, last year Cart'1 celebrated his 30th anniversary with an exhibition at Lyon open-air museum @DemeureDuChaos (Abode of Chaos) where he has spent much of his time over the last 15 years. Splitting his time between Lyon and Baranquilla, Colombia, he works primarily in black and white creating isolated characters that "disrupt the real" and "question our perceptions." "Key and Lock" was painted in 2018 for @OurcqLivingColors on Quai de la Marne underneath Rue de l'Ourcq.  @cart1one/

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"HIGH HOPES"

by Sainer

Born in Lodz, Poland, Sainer is one half of the brilliant Etam Cru duo, along with Bezt. Their imaginative work, whether painting together or alone, has become popular across the globe, and while @Wdwlls says there are slight differences in their visual expressions, they say the duo owes much of its success to the pair's exceptional degree of compatibility. In 2013, two months before opening his first solo show, "Neverland," in Paris for @Galerie_Itinerrance the gallery and the City Council of Paris's 13th arrondissement organized this wall on Ave de la Porte d'Italie. While some of the colors have faded over time aging has in many ways simply added to the fantastical fairytale quality that much of Sainer's work exhibits.  @sainer_etam/

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"A DELICATE BALANCE"

by Shepard Fairey

In 1886 France gave the people of the United States a sculpture of the Roman goddess Libertas. Sculpted in copper by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi "Liberty Enlightening the World" was created on a framework created by Gustave Eiffel, three years before his iconic tower was completed in Paris. In 2016 Shepard Fairey, aka Obey Giant, celebrated 25 years of speaking out on the environment with the release of a book and a show at Paris's @Galerie_Itinerrance both titled "Earth Crisis." Fairey also installed three murals while in Paris and this second of the three—on Rue Jeanne d'Arc—features the earth delicately balanced between Eiffel's two most well known projects. While created as an environmental message, I wonder if the people of France, when they now see the Statue of Liberty juxtaposed against the Eiffel Tour, still read this detail as sea-level rising or Lady Liberty sinking.  @obeygiant/  

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"PARIS SQUIRREL"

by Dzia and Ardif

Beginning during his architecture studies, Paris artist Ardif began exploring possible hybridizations between architecture, machines, and nature, and his "mechanimals" began appearing on walls in 2016. Classically trained Belgian artist DZIA spent more than a decade applying his studies as artist, curator, and graphic designer before starting to paint on walls in 2013. Paris’s @GCAGallery says "spontaneity and play are at the heart of the walls of DZIA" and in November, 2018 when GCA opened a show of his work titled "Run It," DZIA and Ardif collaborated on "Écureuil de Paris" (Paris Squirrel) at Rue Marie Andrée Lagroua Weill-Hallé and Rue Hélène Brion, just a few blocks from the gallery.  @dzia/  @/a_r_d_i_f/

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"MAGIC EXISTS"

by Herakut

"This Message Goes out to the kids: Even though these times make it hard to see, But Magic Does Exist. (We Have Seen it.)"

In 2016 German artists Hera and Akut had their first solo show in Paris, at Mathgoth Gallery. Herakut turned their imaginations loose with "Sweet Madness" diving into themes of the madness that lives in us, and that surrounds us. Herakut told Mathgoth that for them "it is the imagination that allows beings to create buffers between the mind and the constant flow of negative information. The fetish dream that we forge then becomes a shield to escape this harsh reality." A month before the show opened the duo painted this message on Rue René Goscinny at Rue Olivier Messiaen for the children of Paris's Rive Gauche district.  @herakut/  @galerie_mathgoth/

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PARIS 13

by M-City

Born in Gdynia, Poland, Mariusz Waras, aka M-City, was trained in graphic arts in Gdansk. @Galerie_Itinerrance reports that M-City was originally a video game designer but his "obsession with the exact sciences" and intrigue with industrial spaces ultimately led to creating walls and gallery works involving cityscapes built from hundreds of carefully cut stencils. @I_support_street_art says he "takes inspiration from the factories, hydroelectric plants, chimneys, and cranes that dominated his native town" and has translated those visions into works up to 85 meters long. A prolific artist with more than 700 pieces completed as part of his M-City project he created this work for Galerie Itinerrance almost a decade ago at Rue Watteau and Blvd de L'Hopital in Paris.  @stencilcity/

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"TURNCOAT"

by D*Face

Whoever said that size doesn’t matter? As an artist working in a world of image saturation through mass media, it’s always been important for me to make art that stands out from the crowd.  —D*Face

Equally active on the street and in the studio, London artist Dean Stockton, aka D*Face, is best know for what @Wdwlls calls a "body of work that critiques the modern world, in particular, consumerism and the American Dream." In early 2018 D*Face was in Paris to open a solo show titled "Fornever" at @Galerie_Itinerrance . Given the gallery's instrumental role in organizing murals that have transformed Paris's 13th arrondissement it only made sense for D*Face to paint "Turncoat" while he was there. At Rue Nationale and Blvd Vincent Auriol this wall offers further proof that size does matter.  @dface_official/