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| Seth: Le petit Prince |
The Petit Palais has a free exhibition of street art showing at the moment until the 17th November 2024. It is partly mixed in with the permanent collection and partly grouped in the North hall, all on the ground floor. Of course street art, by definition, is not normally seen in a gallery, but, following the initiative of the Gallery Itinérrances in 2022, such art has for the first time entered the realm of the Paris museums. Most of the artists, now mainly in their 40s and 50s are no longer hiding their identities. Their work is also to be seen in huge murals in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
Seth's style is instantly recognisable. He loves to use the image of a child and rainbow colours. He suggests a world of the imagination. The child often has his head in the clouds. Is this the artist himself? Or his avatar..? Visitors to Paris in the autumn of 2023 may have seen Seth's temporary installation outside the Eastern end of the Louvre:
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| Not in present exhibition. Seth: Jusqu'au ciel (Up to Heaven) Photo courtesy of SortiraParis. |
The column represented a child, with head in a cloud, seated on a pile of coloured blocks; it stood near the Louvre from October to December, 2023. Seth's real identity, no secret anymore, is globe-trotting journalist Julien Malland. He has placed his street art all over the world. His little boys and girls are indistinct, often grey, figures of no particular race:
Certain street artists, like D*Face take a more cynical point of view:
D*Face expresses the agony and the extasy of life in his works. He has said that he likes the public to make their own judgements. The Exhibition opens with one of his large spray cans- the emblem of the street artist; it is entitled "Here to spray":
This huge spray can looks as if it has been hidden in the ground and has gone rusty. It resembles the concrete cans the artist illegally placed around his home city of London. As D*Face announces on the back of the can, the rules for street artists are few and their canvases are anywhere and anything. Now is their time to be revealed... as the title of the exhibition proclaims:"We are Here".
D*Face's signature wings have been added playfully to one of the 19th century sculptures in the Petit Palais:
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| Denis Puech: La Pensée (Thought) 1901 |
When Denis Puech (1854-1942) sculpted his multi-coloured marble figure "Thought", little did he know she would end up with cheeky wings which add a certain 'je ne sais quoi'! In its day, the statue was designed to go in the Sorbonne courtyard, but was never installed as 'too modern'.
D*Face's work often has a positive/negative feel about it, leaving its interpretation up to the viewer:
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| D*Face |
D*Face's first Paris mural -"Love won't tear us apart" is in the 13th district and was inspired by Paris, the city of love.
The exhibition contains several works by Shepard Fairey, alias "Obey". Below are his Lily sculpture and painting:
By the same artist, "Who is put on a pedestal?", seen below, was produced using silk screen printing and collage:
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| Shepard Fairey (Obey) Who is put on a pedestal? 2024 |
Obey was inspired by a sculpture which is usually in this same room, but now has been relegated downstairs: Lady with a monkey, whose serene expression he captures:
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| Camille Alaphilippe: La Femme au singe (Woman with monkey) 1908 Bronze and glazed stoneware |
Obey started painting illegal artworks around the streets in the U.S.A (he was born in Charleston, South Carolina). He first used the signature of a giant's face which he borrowed from a French wrestler known as André the Giant. In the work below the giant's face is in the star:
The artist became very well known and was commissioned to create a poster by Obama for his presidential campaign. The president of France, Macron, reputedly has a work by Obey in his office, similar to the one on show here:
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| Shepard Fairey(Obey): "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) 2024 mixed media (stencil, silkscreen and collage on canvas) |
Marianne, symbol of the French Republic, is shedding a tear of blood. The work was done after the terrorist attacks on restaurants and a dance-hall in the East of Paris in 2015. He wanted to show solidarity with the French people.
Many street artists express their political views through their art. Obey takes a stand for justice and against racism. He hopes that his work is at the same time serene but provocative:
Often the street artists bring their cultural heritage with them, as in the Art of 'Add Fuel', native of the Lisbon area. Portugese ceramic tiles, known as azuelos, are reflected in his blue and white decorative panels:
A group of them are placed around the decorative metal-work staircase by 19C architect Charles Girault:
They harmonise with the colourful chandelier, made out of Murano glass, by Othaniel:
Visitors to Paris will recognise Jean-Michel Othoniel's style, seen in the metro entrance to Palais Royal- a permanent street art fixture.
Nearby we can appreciate the calligraphy of French Tunisian artist El Seed, famous in Paris for his giant mural on the side of the Institute for Arab studies:
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| El Seed: Aux armes et cetera 2024 Acrylic on canvas |
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| El Seed |
Pantonio, a street artist from the Azores, demonstrates his great skill in intertwining bird shapes, taking inspiration from those wind-swept rocky isles:
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| Pantonio |
Contrasting with 19C sculptor Carpeaux's Monument to general Moncey, we find Conor Harrington's illustration of a monarch in decline. The subject suits Conor's smudgy, dripping style. He incorporates a modern television showing a footballer being awarded the golden globe. The message is clear- sic transit gloria mundi:
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Conor Harrington, one of my favourites, is to be spotted on buildings in Paris' 13th district, where his murals look like ephemeral masterpieces. Born in Ireland, Harrington spent 7 years at art school in London.
Another interesting contrast confronts Invader's tiled creature and sun with Monet's atmospheric "Sunset at Lavacourt":
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| Invader and Monet |
'Invader', as he calls himself, works at night, wearing a mask, with a trowel and ceramic tiles. He claims to have done a tiling course on the planet Mars. His friends know that he studied at the Beaux Arts in Paris. There are about 1500 works by him in this city alone, and many more worldwide. A special app called 'Flashinvader' helps identify the real ones and awards points. Invader was once arrested and fined in America for attaching some tiles to the 'D' of the well-known Hollywood sign!
The large hall in the Northern wing contains a varied selection of Street Art by different artists. There is an app to help identify the different artists if one is clever enough to make it work. However the different artists' styles are fairly recognisable.
In the last sweeping gallery of the Petit Palais, large-sized portraits contrast with the 19C works. For example, INTI's madonna:
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| William Bouguereau: La Vierge aux anges (Virgin Mary with angels) |
We'll finish with the first woman to gain recognition in the male-dominated world of Street Art- "Swoon", alias Caledonia Curry, based in Brooklyn. She was horrified by the Deepwater oil spill and wanted to pay tribute to the ocean with "Thalassa", representing the spirit of the sea:
What fun it could be to find some of these in various locations, like a scavenger hunt. Yes, art is in the Streets!
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