Blek le Rat
Artist Bio
A pioneer of graffiti writers in Europe, Blek le Rat was one of the first people to use stencils to make public art on the street using icons instead of writing his name.
He was first exposed to graffiti in 1971 in New York, but didn’t start making his own until ten years later in Paris. Inspired by a stenciled portrait he saw of Mussolini amongst some WWII ruins during a trip to Italy, he created a stencil of a life size silhouette of a rat running along the streets. He stenciled the rat for two years and quickly became recognized around Paris. This change marked a monumental break from the dominance of New York’s graffiti style. His method of creating street art changed the face of graffiti and still continues to greatly influence artists around the world; from Shepard Fairey and Banksy, to JayBadbc and Oseas Duarte to the young artist wheat pasting work around town.
His work has since evolved beyond the rat icon and taken on a more serious context. He now uses his art to serve a social cause, to evoke reaction and inspire change. Most recently, he pasted hundreds of posters around Paris of Florence Aubenas, a French journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq, hoping to provoke a reaction from politicians and journalists and aid in her release. This project gained Blek incredible public support, and has encouraged him to continue to use his Street Art as a voice for the less fortunate. (Johathan LeVine Gallery)
Blek le Rat at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lethe Bashar, lexie and Lethe Bashar, Harry. Harry said: Blek le Rat is a pioneer of #Graffiti #Art http://bit.ly/56wvDa #streetart http://frostfires.com/notice/244769 […]
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by LetheinVegas: RT @escapeintolife: Blek le Rat is a pioneer of #Graffiti #Art http://bit.ly/56wvDa #streetart…
With out Blek Le Rat there would be no Banksy. Blek Le Rat is the man!
But before any of these guys there was a bunch of art students who were creating stencil graffiti in the mid 1970’s in Hartlepool in North East England. Although they were not established artists, they were some of the first to develop this medium. Like any graffiti, it had to be an unlawful act to give an edge but these guys were organised. Intricate stencils with an array of spray colours allowed up to 5 or more artworks. They were reported in the Northern Echo Newspaper about 1975 or 1976.
[…] Lần đầu tiên ông phát hiện ra nghệ thuật graffiti là vào năm 1971 ở New York, nhưng đã không khởi nghiệp riêng của mình cho đến mười năm sau ở Paris. Lấy cảm hứng từ chân dung Mussolini vẽ nổi ông nhìn thấy giữa một vài thứ tàn tích của Thế chiến thứ II trong cuộc du lịch đến Italy, Blek le Rat đã tạo ra một bản vẽ nổi về hình bóng kích thước cuộc đời của một con chuột đang chạy trên đường phố. Ông vẽ con chuột trong hai năm, và nhanh chóng được thừa nhận trên khắp Paris. Sự thay đổi này đánh dấu một bước đột phá phi thường từ sự thống trị của phong cách graffiti New York. Phương pháp sáng tạo nghệ thuật đường phố của ông đã thay đổi bộ mặt của graffiti và vẫn tiếp tục ảnh hưởng lớn đến các nghệ sĩ trên khắp thế giới, từ Shepard Fairey và Banksy, đến JayBadbc và Oseas Duarte đến [các] nghệ sĩ trẻ dùng hồ bột mì để dán tác phẩm quanh thị trấn. https://www.escapeintolife.com/artist-watch/blek-le-rat/ […]