Space Invaders Tile Graffiti in Paris

Latin quarter Paris

Saint Germain area Paris

Saint Germain area

Saint Michel Bridge

I’ve been living in Paris for the last year and as always I keep an eye for graffiti. I try to stick to the more interesting stuff, things that stand out of the usual a bit.

I have been noticing quite some Space Invader tile graffiti lately and gathered some shots of them. They aren’t the best shots from Invaders stuff but they are all from this month so it gives and idea where it’s at.

He’s got a video on youtube with an interview if you want to see it, nothing revealing but fun. He’s done some really funny stuff, like taking the map of a city and placing his pieces so once drawn on a map it makes the shape of a space invader.

I blogged him earlier when (see link here: http://marcozna.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/tile-mosaic-graffiti/) and you can find links to more info on that post.

Well, enjoy.

Great Graffiti Zone in Sternschanze Hamburg

I recently went for a short trip to Hamburg and was pleasantly surprised by the city. A friend of mine showed me around the city and brought me to Sternschanze for a classic Curry Wurst (which I greatly enjoyed) and while there I had snapped some shots of some awesome graffiti pieces I noticed and really original stuff to. 

Here are some shots I took and I could have probably spent a whole day there just finding great stencils, tiles and poster art. Not to mention the other graffiti pieces. 

The graffiti covered building was pretty cool. The whole area is pretty graffiti covered though totally hip area and actually quite safe. Lots of great cafes, bars and shops. 

Otherwise there was time neat Tile Stencils that I haven’t seen before. They are well made since there is all the time in the world to paint them properly and in some cases I wasn’t even sure if they were graffiti or not. One of from the Piratos series that I discovered in World of Stencils (thanks Maya).

The majority of the Stencils are from ALIAS who per Maya is a Berlin artist but did quite some work in Hamburg too. 

She has a bunch of great stencils from Hamburg area (and elsewhere in the world) – I advise you check out her site too.

Sorry for some of the crap photo quality.

Enjoy.

[:-]

New Giant graffiti from Ludo’s Nature’s Revenge series

Spotted this piece in a street in Paris a few days ago. It only lived for about a week but was a pretty addition to an otherwise ugly wall. 

 

About 1.8m high it is one of the biggest Ludo pieces I have seen

It was almost 2 meters high and one of the biggest pieces I have seen. 

Ludo must have been a metro poster mounter before he because a Graffiti artist, as this must have been a right pain to get up. 

It’s got a bit of a message which is cool – and funily enough Similar to the Grenade Perfume Stencil I posted about some time ago. 

Well enjoy and if you have more links to his stuff post them in the comments.

Seeing the T.A.G. Expo – Paris, Grand Palais

Check out that roofing

The contrast between the classic beauty of the Grand Palais and the tags and throw-ups on the poster

The beauty of the Grand Palais stairs up

There were two long walls like this with sprayed canvas pieces down both lines.

Liked the one in the middle that could almost have been a stencil

Like the simple strokes of the couple kissing simple but clear.

Nice lettering – probably not sprayed

Ok so I went to visit the expo and I can say it was not what I expected, but hey that doesn’t mean it was all crap.

When you come to the place the setting is amazing. It is THE Grand Palais in Paris, off the between Alexandre III Bridge and the Champs Elysees. Some of the most amazing architecture in France is in that area. I could ramble about it but the picture will explain better.

I thought it would be pictures of great pieces and a wide variety of graffiti types. Actually I thought this would be a sort of overview on graffiti. As the name T.A.G means Tag and Graffiti, however that isn’t what it is. It is a collection of graffiti by a variety of artists that Alain-Dominique Gallizia has managed to collect. There are some big names in there such as PhaseII and others. Gallizia basically contacted the artists and had them do a standard size piece for him on a theme.

My objection to this is that as it is done on a canvas in a workshop the quality should be 100%, the point is that it’s got to communicate. That’s probably why I like stencils so much (and to my disappointment there wasn’t a single stencil in the whole expo).

[addition]

I re-read my post and thought I would ad this (after the amazing comment from gmozz22) and want to make sure my post is somewhat objective. 
1. If you like spray pieces then this is the expo for you. It has many many different styles – of the spray variety. 
2. I would have preferred the pieces to be bigger as I felt they didn’t convey what a full graffiti piece is, but I understand it makes it difficult to transport. 
3. What I didn’t know when looking up the expo on the net is that it is litterally two large wall panels of same-sized graffiti canvas’ – the entrance fee is 5 EUR which is about half the price of a normal expo.

Voila, now that was my view and up to you to make your own.

[;-]

Going to visit the Graffiti expo in Paris

Am going to go visit the TAG expo in the Grand Palais (a prestigious glass roofed expo palace in Paris). Am looking forward to it. Hope there is a good variety of pieces in there.

Will be blogging my visit, it will be a long post.

[:-]

Tile Mosaic Graffiti

 

A Tile graffiti from Invader

I’ve blogged several different types of graffiti. But not Mosaic Graffiti… Actually I discovered this in the streets of Paris. I saw a few of them and wondered if this was something official, maybe some type of modern art (there has been some pretty weird legal modern art stuff around).  But speaking with a friend I found out that this is actually graffiti. 

It’s some of the nicest graffiti I have seen, not too loud, not too big but nice and funny.

It’s done by Invader, there’s more information on his graffiti here. He has done hundreds of these all over the world. 

More coming…

[;-]

The Grenade Perfume

This stencil was used by a theater company in Paris to promote their show. The theatre piece is called “Les vipères se parfument au jasmin” I have no idea what it is about and any quality. 

However the stencil piece they used is great and could have been from Banksy or Dolk. In fact maybe it is but I haven’t been able to find out. 

 

The perfume grenade stencil (pochoir) poster from the Paris subway.

 

If someone knows who did the original art please leave a comment. 

On another note, I started a thread called “Who has been blogging graffiti” on www.blogcatalog.com, see the link here: http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/who-has-blogged-graffiti and there are some really interesting graffiti styles out there. Such as the one from Bayarts about moss graffiti. Will definitely blog that one shortly.

Nemo stencil graffiti in Paris

Nemo stencil in Paris - notice the white man climbing the wall

 

I spotted this stencil in Paris recently and found it quite nice. It is by an artist called Nemo, and has done quite some stencil work in Paris.

Nemo is known for selecting spaces that look bad and doing his piece there. Such as a destroyed wall etc, while not the same witty style as Bansky and Dolk he is rather artistic and almost poetic in his way. There is a lot happening in his piece. It isn’t sure if Nemo and Jerome Mesnager are the same person but the pieces are often linked. 

Jerome also did the art for an entire hotel in Paris called Hotel des Academies et des Arts, check out their site – it is a great idea for an artist to do.

Voila – am looking out for more.

[:-]

Fokop Business Center – Hilarious signs series

Maybe not the best place to do your business transactions - Hilarious signage

I just saw this great sign FOKOP Business Center. Not FUCK UP Business Center… I am adding it to the hilarious signage series.

For more of those click here >> HILARIOUS SIGNAGE SERIES.

Cheers [;-]

Human Rights can also be well designed and communicate

We are celebrating the 60 years of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights this year. Which is great, actually that document means more to humanity than most people realize. Probably because the general understanding of what Human Rights are is just not understood well enough. 

Well I guess you live in a place where the majority of these rights are still somewhat respected, but scratch just a bit below the surface and you’ll probably notice one violation after the next.

Now I wont get on a roll about that, rather I wanted to show a few videos that I saw on Human Rights which I think apply the concept of practical design. You may wonder how that applies to graphic design – well the design is usefull if it is aesthetic enough to be admired while delivering the message. 

For example a well designed chair isn’t just comfortable (of course it is that too) but it is pleasing to the eye and does it’s purpose. Well a book cover should not just be pleasing to the eye (it must be that) but it should also communicate to the viewer enough so he picks it up and wants to get it, because it tells him enough about the story to make him want to read it. OK I dont’ want to bore you with these details. Let’s get to the point. 

I saw this video on Human Rights by www.humanrightsactioncenter.org and I really think it is just great. The design attracted me, the way the text merges into the message, into the illustrations, into the animations etc. is just great. And the essential point is that the communication comes across. (Btw, sign their petition to include the declaration of Human Rights into all passports) 

The only problem with the video is that it needs to be redone for every language, and it only works to those that can read. 

The Youth for Human Rights group (www.youthforhumanrights.org) have an amazing series of videos which overcome that (you can download the videos from their site or watch them on YouTube they are in short series and communicate well, the design in this case is the script which is great as it is short and to the point with a minimum amount of words. 

This one is on the Right to Play – the music is particularly good. It sounds like Beck but am not sure and can’t find any reference stating it is or isn’t him. In any case – I love it. 

So in summary, DESIGN TO COMMUNICATE.

Cheers,

[:-]