Street Art in Paris Pt 7 – Space Invader

i know i’m repeating myself a little here but i can’t resist.

and not just because he’s popular and a little bit well-known,

but because what he does is truly unique, because the work individually and as a collective whole is fun, and because his concept is really coherent.

i’m talking about the street artist formally known as space invader.  he currently has two awesome exhibitions running in Paris (one on either side of town – see here for more details) to celebrate his thousandth invasion on the city.  and that’s not including his hometown of lille or any of the other 40 or so cities he has hit over the span of his career.

the pictures and info that follows is the result of my visit to the exhibition at la general.  upon arrival one enters through what is essentially a large warehouse space through a dimly lit shipping container filled with mosaic tiles.  exploring the space one will find, among numerous other wonders, a perspex box of (used) shoes which have been made with soles featuring a space invader logo, a vending machine of space invader stickers, a two storey high illuminated rubix cube, space invader disco ball and several maps indicating the artists plethora of invasions – all chronologically numbered.

caption: shoes made ​​and worn by invader in his invasions around the world

for sale at the conclusion of the exhibition is beer and waffles – in the shape of the infamous gaming icon.  yes, the man actually manufactured an invader waffle iron.

the more serious work, which is the true focus of the show, is not what i would consider his more traditional or classic work but it’s something he’s been doing since at least 2005. much in the vein of the recent shepherd fairey exhibition i last wrote about here in part 6 of the series, space invader appropriates popular imagery of bands, musicians, actors, films – with a twist.  invader uses only rubix cubes to build the image.  he has even made a rubix cube version of shepherd fairey’s original andre the giant sticker (perhaps in homage to his peer), along with representations of two highly recognised artworks by lichtenstein and hokusai. ‘how postmoderrrrrn!‘ you might say.

what i find remarkable is that he doesn’t deconstruct the cube to use the pieces individually (as with the mosaic tiles featuring in the majority of his street work) rather, he puts the piece together using the entire rubix cube making sure the face holds the correct colours in the correct places to fit the whole image.  i’ve always admired anyone with the patience and skill to solve rubix cube but i think this might have to be one step above!

even with the rubix cube, invader remains within his central theme both visually and conceptually.  the mosaic imagery remains in addition to the reference to gaming and childhood pastimes.  more than anything (and this is becoming a theme for my own work here at tobeilluinated) is the aspect of  fun his work contains.  the colours, the reference to gaming, the score keeping, the act of vandalism/installing the space invaders, the simplicity of his visual style – it lights me up inside.

NB: again, sorry for the poor quality of some of these images

street art in paris PART 6

otherwise known as OBEY, shepard fairey has been in the street art game since 1989.

something you might recognise:

he began by slapping his ‘andre the giant’ sticker (beginnings of what evolved into his trademark image, as above) everywhere he could with his mates and fellow design students.  the now artist, designer and entrepreneur eventually refined the design to be made into posters and finally pasted them on a multitude of walls globally.  an act and image only really meant as an in-joke became more and more recognised by the general public and generated a slightly overwhelming reverberation.

fairey himself admits,

at first I was only thinking about the response from my clique of art school and skateboard friends. the fact that a larger segment of the public would not only notice, but investigate, the unexplained appearance of the stickers was something i had not contemplated...

i was lucky enough to stumble across his paris exhibition just recently.  here i found host of prints by the artist which are currently for sale.  personally, i never knew the extent of the work fairey had produced outside the OBEY stickers and posters and was amused to find a multitude of interesting pop culture identities and references within the work displayed.  

fairey’s experience in design on large commercial scales (having made a name for himself in the marketing/design world, he has worked for the likes of pepsi, hasbro and the black eyed peas to name just a handful in addition to founding his own design company) is evident and the work is highly polished and seriously well made.

i love the subtle (and not so subtle!) nods to different styles of commercial design in the direction of art nouveau posters of the 20s, skater style imagery, chinese propaganda designs and 1960s music posters.  the simple use of colour (predominantly black, neutrals, red and blue) and continued reference to the stencil also floats my boat, as i’m sure it will yours… take a geez…

NB: this exhibition can be found at the gallerie magda danysz
(78 rue amelot, 75011 – the work will be around until 18th June so be sure to check it out!)

street art in paris PART 5

ok SO.
for this little post i have a bunch of poster/sticker bits and pieces to share with you humans.

these are really from all over the city and for the most part i just think these are cute/clever/nice to look at.

(working two jobs has me a little less descriptive and eloquent than usual, je m’excuse!)

street art in paris PART 3

hello again, this here post centres on the stencil style of street art (as requested!)

stencil art is perhaps one of the newest forms of street art and is also perhaps one of the most involved and highly skilled media within the genre.  it’s labor intensive, it’s extremely risky and it involves extra equipment to achieve if you wanna do it right, yo.

to produce a piece with multiple colours or tones one must draw and cut the same number of stencils as are colours/tones. each stencil is sprayed onto the wall and later overlapped with another stencil and another layer of colour/tone (very much like screen printing if anyone has dabbled in printmaking) to produce a detailed, high depth work.  in between each layer is a waiting period, depending on the type of paint used, which can be a risky business when making ones art where people often pass by.  even in the wee hours it only takes one narrower-minded walker-by to pick up a phone and dial 17 (the number for the police here).

hence, my feelings of respect towards such individuals and the work they so lovingly produce is strong.  please scroll for a number of random works i am unable to credit very well (feel free to help me here if you can!)  and never fear, i have a handful more really superb stencil works featuring in my next post.  so watch this space!

enjoy…

by ‘jef aerosol’

i assume also by ‘jef aerosol’ as the style is remarkably similar
(esp. with the red arrows)
the red text on the windowsill translates as “the music soothes the walls”

i admit this one is not particularly skilled BUT i love the concept.  this work is also really well located, surrounded by a lot of expensive boutiques, restaurants and bars in one of the most wealthy arrondissements of paris – a nice little comment on some of the weath and status obsessed parisians… and it’s cute!

street art in paris PART 2

space invader!

if you dig street art and haven’t heard of space invader my first question to you would most likely be, have you been living under a rock??! said with much indignation, buckets of disbelief and a hint of outrage.

probably one of the most iconic and infamous street artists in existence, space invader himself is based in paris (lucky me!).  the tally of his invasion of this city is currently at 704 which means that you’d have to have seriously impaired vision not to spot one of his works!  i’ve noticed that there seems to be more of them around the north and east of paris if you’re keen on hunting some down. also check out his website here for more pictures and info.

besides paris and the rest of france, space invader has left his mark literally all over the world.  again, check out his web site for more details.  perth and melbourne (in my beautiful country of origin) hold totals of 26 each (including one stuck to a shipping buoy in the middle of the ocean!).  however, it disappoints me slightly that sydney has been forgotten… he’ll just have to come back someday.

the things i love about space invader
*  his street art name is both clever and cute
*  staying true to the original video game he gives himself points for every invasion
*  each little character up on a wall is different
*  his visual style is really simple, iconic and fun
*  it’s such a nice surprise to turn a corner and bump into one here… sometimes i play a game to see how many i notice (and how many points i can accumulate) in a day.

please scroll to see some of my favourites…

on a side note:
i’ve noticed a few around town that look like they might be fake or copycat versions… can anyone confirm/deny/offer an opinion on this??

street art in paris PART 1

i am a big fan of street art
sometimes i leave the house just to go treasure hunting for new pieces…

tags? NO
elaborate crap on the side of trains? NO
bathroom graffiti? NO
all of the above: JUVENILE

try beautiful posters, peepholes, mosaic pieces, clever slogans
think banksy, swoon, obey, JR, space invader, blek le rat and gaia (just to name a handful of some the most well-known).

a lot of people are currently debating the validity and value of street art these days.  artists such as banksy and space invader release films and sell iconic merchandise and in the tune of “selling out” i see their point.  people have even started cutting out pieces of concrete walls to own a ‘banksy’.  and if you’ve seen his film exit through the gift shop you will see that the subject of this film is a classic example of the “sell out” type.

i agree that yes, there’s a charm in the idea of the starving artist, making art in the name of passion and truth but in my opinion everyone’s got to make a living!  i, for one, am certain that retaining integrity and making money is possible!  debate aside…

the reasons i love good street art:
*  it’s free for all to see
*  it’s very temporary and ephemeral depending on the weather, the street cleaners, the building’s owner etc
*  the element surprise when you turn a corner
*  there is no particular style or limit as there is no one from whom to gain permission or approval
*  the element of risk involved in putting the piece on the wall is exciting
*  the anonymity of the artist and this kind of secrecy is fun
*  the artists doesn’t ask permission therefore doesn’t have to endure long and arduous processes to have their work displayed/exhibited.

please scroll to see 5 of my favourite treasures so far
and stay tuned for more in the coming couple of weeks.

goliath – le marais

goliath – le marais

NB: these are all images taken by yours truly during the 8 months i’ve been traipsing the streets of this glorious city.
ALSO: if you happen to know the names of any of the artists i haven’t credited please do tell, as i would be keen to put their names in lights and learn more about their work.

art student parties

i forgot how much i miss these parties.

one time i went to my cousin john’s grad exhibition and we watched a performance artist throw raw fish and gnawed ham bones around and down his underpants in the middle of a courtyard.  he was next to naked and accompanied by some minimal house music coming from an old school tape deck including the occasional spoken lyrics, “fish to the left, fish to the left” whereby the raw fish was thrust leftward.  to this day anything resembling that phrase amongst those that were there results in fits of rolling giggles.

like my cousins grad exhibition, this little student art party i stumbled on tonight was located on the school grounds and included bottles and bottles and bottles (but never enough) of cheap red wine to be consumed at our leisure.  we were lucky enough to find half a bottle and (in imitation of the others) guarded it jealously under our arm as we perused the work there.

it was no surprise that the show contained some work that was terribly weak and some that was magnificent.  following is some of the more magnificent.  being a poorly organised event, there were no names titles or numbers attached so i cannot give anyone credit.  ALSO i must apologise for the poor picture quality – i only had my phone on me at the time as our attendance this eve was completely unplanned, unannounced and uninvited.  sorry fellas… désolé les gars.

i overheard a funny conversation while two guys looked at one of the pieces.  it went exactly like this:

garson1 – j’ai un question…
boy1           – i have a question…
garson2 – ouais?
boy2           – yeah?
garson1 – pourquoi???
boy1           – why???

this was the one he referred to:

i have to admit, i agree completely.  but what’s one of these shows without some seriously overdone clichéd lame piece of shit???

caroline bouyer

NB: please excuse for the poor picture quality – click on the links to see better versions and more info on this work

 

one thing i really love about paris and travel generally is the opportunity for exploration and discovery.  i remark often among friends that there is truly too much to explore and discover in this city and i’m afraid that a year is still not enough to see everything i want to see.

so on the topic of exploration and paris, i’d like to share one of my adventures with you.  yesterday i decided the weather was mild enough to get out of my “box” (what my friends and i have nick-named our tiny top floor studio living spaces) and go for a nice walk around the area of république and further into the heart of northern 11th arrondissment/neighbourhood.  the promise of a number of artists’ squats that i’ve been told are located here whet my appetite for adventure.   the area also has a reputation for being a little more relaxed and ‘alternative’ with more young people residing here.  so with a friday morning to myself i thought, pourquoi pas? why not?

and what did i find you ask? my answer: a trove of hidden treasures of not only several artists squats but some great cheap vintage stores, pockets of amazing street art and most excitingly, painter and printmaker caroline bouyer, in her shopfront studio.  i spotted her beautiful prints in the front window and upon entering the shop was greeted by the artist herself, sat at her workspace next to the radio working on inking up to produce the next print.  the scent of the ink and turps took me straight back to university and my own time in the printmaking studios there.

despite a bit of a language barrier (due to my nerves and subsequent loss of what french language i have) bouyer was extremely accommodating when i asked her permission to take some photos and to write this post.  she told me that intaglio etching is her favourite medium to work with and that the process is sometimes very long.  from sketching the design to rolling the paper and plate in the press, a lot of things can go wrong.  i think this is why i found it so satisfying at university – when i began to hone my technique, less went wrong and when i finally made the ink and paper do what i wanted them to do i felt such a sense of achievement.  printmaking is a medium and skill that i truly respect!

bouyer works within four categories at present: urban landscapes, busts, portraits and the ‘inner world’.  i am particularly fond of the works from the inner world but i must admit i’m fond of them all.  i find the appearance of texture and it’s effect on the light and the shade of the works to be really delicate and it’s clear that sensitivity and skill have been applied to all of the work you see here.

click here for bouyer’s web site and more of her work if you like what you see.

following is also a short film you can find on the artists site (particularly cool if you are interested in the printmaking process!)

Caroline Bouyer : Gravure from fussandfeathers.com on Vimeo.

basquiat

 

so this is a post about the  jean-michel basquiat exhibition i recently visited at the modern art museum of paris here in the 16th (which is just next to the must visit restaurant, tokyo eat at palais de tokyo).  i studied his work briefly at university and at the time i remember being intrigued.  to be honest my main thoughts were, ‘how could he have become so famous just by painting like a child?’ which i think might be a common thought when viewing his works and others of a similar style.

but famous he certainly was and still is, the evidence in plain sight upon trying to see this exhibition week after week, always with a queue halfway down the block.

i think a lot of the answer to this question may have something to do with his famous friends. some include blondie (whose music video he once starred in), david bowie (who later played the role of andy warhol in ‘basquiat’ the film) and madonna (who he briefly dated).  in the later years of his career he collaborated for some time with andy warhol who became a close friend. it all goes a long way to reinforce the old saying about who you know as compared to what you know!

raw use of colour and ideas on the black/hispanic/african experience in north america, on consumerism and on the constraints of convention on the individual dominate much of his work (click here or here for more background info – it’s far too much for my little blog).  basquiat’s background as a poor, black/hispanic, terribly intelligent child seems to have a lot to do with where he and his art ended up.

i believe that as a teenager and in his early 20s basquiat was a serious rebel but quite an intelligent one. the beginnings of his public art making was the graffiti he scrawled all over lower manhattan with a friend, al diaz.  they called themselves SAMO and although basquiat moved from walls to canvas the style of the work changed little.

text was a common feature of all of his art.  for me a lot of it didn’t make much sense and wasn’t totally coherent with the images presented.  i would have loved the chance to speak with the artist himself!  it is apparent that a great portion of the work was thrown out onto the canvas stream-of-consciousness style, my lovely man asked me towards the end of the exhibition, ‘was he schizophrenic?’

indeed the sheer quantity of work is overwhelming and it’s evident that this guy had a serious and sincere compulsion to express himself, to create.  probably due to his visual style, one interviewer asked basquiat if there was anger in his work, to which he responded, ‘it’s about 80% anger’.

i felt this strongly while at the exhibition with many pieces that looked to me to be two-thirds finished with a plethora of paint drips on the canvasses and scribbled out text and images.  some say this kind of process could be interpreted as a rejection of conventional, institutional or more rigid forms of art – even a casting off of conventional society in general.

it is no secret that the artist indulged in drug use throughout his life-time. perhaps inevitably basquiat developed a serious heroin habit which likely contributes to the “schizophrenic” scribbling evident in most of his work.  a combination perhaps of the pain from his childhood, his struggle with fame and the fortune and certainly the drug use itself, the artist became intentionally more and more reclusive and eventually died of a heroin overdose at 27 years old in 1988.

somehow i find his life slightly more interesting than his work – maybe a nice little quote from the man himself which might best sum up his life:

i had some money, i made the best paintings ever.  i was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs.  i was awful to people.

sounds like, sadly, a life half-lived to me.  i don’t know how illuminated that is, besides the brightness of his spark that never quite reaching its optimum clarity.

“mac doh”

image by don mac illustration

pronounced “mac doh” is the frenchy nickname for the worlds most loved and hated fast food outlet. these crazy parisians seem to love it.  i’m at the indifferent/hate end of the spectrum.  the grease is alright when severely hungover – but i certainly find better quality grease elsewhere.  and besides all the well known and publicised massive corporate, environmental, health, economic issues,

THE COFFEE IS SO SO SO SO BAD. why am i drinking it then? especially in a city where good coffee is abundant and cheap? you might ask.  because i don’t have any internet connection in my bleeeping apartment at the moment and the bleeeeping cafe where i might otherwise have connected and had a NICE coffee is CLOSED.  and i can’t sit here and use the internet unless i buy something from this godforsaken place.

IF there’s a next time
i’ll be opting for water.

BLEEEP YOU mac DOH!

favourite monument

i find it hard to pick one favourite of anything.  i remember vividly that as a little girl i never truly had a favourite colour, i just kind of told people it was whatever colour my friends liked, usually pink.

it always made (and continues to make) me terribly anxious to pick only one favourite. darcey, my gorgeous cousin’s favourite colour was always “rainbow”.  that girl was blessed with some brains.

as with colours, if i am to be honest, i have a number of favourite parisian monuments.  however, i feel particularly attached to les invalides.   the first time i saw it was from a great distance, it’s relatively tiny golden dome competing for attention with the eiffel tower from where i was standing, here at the top of trocadero.

i fell in love. like when you see someone you’re inexplicably attracted to for the first time, i wanted to know all about him.  what is his name? where can i find him? what’s he all about anyway?

and in this case, it turns out that my love for him is enduring.  no matter what kind of light the day brings, his gold dome stands out luminous against the sky and i am mesmerised.

these polaroids taken by one of my favourite new friends (who actually feels like an old friend), claire molloy, seem to capture his beauty perfectly don’t you think?

the blue hour in paris

i thought i might let you know about this man’s blog.  he’s a little bit amazing…

i have been following the blog, the blue hour, for a couple of years now and it’s safe to say this really is one of my all time favourite bloggers.  blog creator and photographer, brian ferry, speaks a lot about his passion for light and so I thought this would be an apt reference from which to get the ball rolling.

he’s also a lovely guy.  i emailed him a while back to ask for some quick tips on photographing food for a high school hospitality class i was asked to work with and (without really expecting a response) he replied immediately and with some extremely helpful hints.

besides enticing (especially the food and travel related posts) i find the images extremely calming.  i particularly admire the use of light in his photographs.  but don’t just take my word for it, see for yourself: click here