History of a Graffiti Wall in Paris – rue Jean Poulmarch

Over the last year I have been walking down the Jean Poulmarch street near the Canal St Martin. And I noted that there is a huge canvass in that street for graffiti artists. Every time I noticed something different I took a shot of it and recently thought I would post them all here.

Realize that all these changes happened within one year. I also linked to the Google map for anyone who is going to be passing by at the bottom of the post.

Here’s how it looked like when I first saw it back in 2008. I blogged about it then in a post entitled Graffiti: Art or Vandalism in fact the photo I had on that post shows two guys doing something I can’t quite figure out… well, back to the post – here is a better version of that photo.

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2008

Then later on it got tagged on and postered on and eventually it was all painted white. And someone did a photo expo on the wall. That lasted a few days and looked like this (not my photo – credit goes to Fondarmental)

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, winter 2008

Later in early 2009 I walked by and saw someone what totally redone the wall, by that time the photo expo had been gone for a while and taggers had returned to mark their territory once again. But someone came and made a massive poster with great lettering, for a sentence I had a hard time deciphering it reads “I am everywhere” I think the artist is called The Atlas.

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, early 2009 - I AM EVERYWHERE by ATLAS

But that didn’t last very long either, for reasons I don’t know. And more recently an association called Fondarmental (see their blog here: http://grafflapointepoulmarch.over-blog.com/) redid the wall entirely. I spoke to two of the artists that were doing the wall and they were telling me they get authorization from the Paris City administration to do these paintings. The reason Mr Indy is still in the picture all the time is that he is over the 5 meters limit, above which the City isn’t allowed to paint over.

So here is what it looked like more recently when the artists were working on it:

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2009

And how it is complete:

Poulmarch Graffiti Wall Paris, summer 2009 completed

If you are in Paris, here it is on a map click on the image below:

Click on the link to see this on Google Maps

Stencil and Graffiti mélange

On my way home the other day I spotted a pretty large graffiti collection on a single wall. It’s a great mix of stencil pieces by Jeff Aerosol a White Man (paint) by Jerome Mesnager, a stencil by Pimax and a poster grafitti by Speedy Graphito.

It’s been there for quite a while so it is probably comissioned by the locals or somehow protected. It is located in the famed Latin Quarter of Paris and let me tell you that the City of Paris would have taken this down within hours if it wasn’t somehow protected.

It’s a pity that someone painted over the head of the White Man by Mesnager.

Otherwise it’s a great collection of some of Paris’ biggest and most original guys.

You can find the piece on Google street view below (with the head on the White Man) its on Rue des Feuillantines.

Going to see the Cartier Graffiti Expo “Né dans la rue”

Cartier Graffiti Expo - poster art

I’m looking forward to seeing the Cartier Graffiti expo (see their site: http://fondation.cartier.com/) they have an amazing flash site that’s pretty avant-garde.

Expo seems different from the TAG Expo that I went to see some time ago (blogged it then).

Have intentionally not read any other reviews or gone to see photos as I want to get there with a clean slate. Will shoot it and blog it on my return for those unlucky fellas that can’t go see it for themselves.

Blog soon.

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.

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.

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,

[:-]

Graffiti, art or vandalism? my take

On www.duncancumming.co.uk you can follow the story of how a graffiti artist in Scotland got caught and was about to spend 28 month in prison for vandalism. This brings up the eternal question, is graffiti an art or is it vandalism?

That graffiti is art is no question, the use of color, lettering and communication is exactly what art is all about. Look at some of the stencils and pieces by the biggest street artists, they actually deliver a message.

That graffiti is vandalism is an understandable point as well. I wouldn’t like to wake up one morning and find my newly renovated house covered in a graffiti piece. No matter how nice it is it may just not fit with the deco that I chose for the place.

So?

It needs to be done intelligently for everyone’s benefit. A graffiti piece can totally decorate an appropriate location. See this photo for example. It may or may not be authorized graffiti, but it fits the urban area. Try doing this on the Louvre and yes, that would be vandalism.

Graffiti wall paris (taken with mobile phone)

 The graffiti sort of “protects” the wall from being covered in all sorts of other crap. Additionally this fits the young people that hang out in the area and they don’t mind it.

If a street artist places his pieces intelligently it actually doesn’t harm but can help. Where it becomes stupid is when the Graffiti guys just do it for the adrenaline (yes I know it is part of the kick). There has to be a balance.

 

Graffiti Marketing for Radio Nostalgie

 

 

And if an artist did vandalise a wall, then pull him by the scruff of the neck and get him to spend his night cleaning it up and repainting it at his cost, he can take responsibility for what he did. Trying to jail someone for 28 month for graffiti is lame, that is the work of someone who is so lazy that he can’t even make him fix what he did wrong. 

I know that is the way because I went that way and the most efficient way to make a bad thing into a good thing is to take responsibility for what one has done and use the effort to become more competent and help others. I saw how many former street artists of my time became graphic designers, well that’s a great way to use the skill.

And here is a short video on how that can be done…

Feel free to comment, and vote.

[;-]

Almost Stencil Graffiti from Paris

 

As I mentioned in my last post, in walking around in the 10th district in Paris and looking at some of the graffiti culture they have I saw this pasted graffiti. It’s not stencil, it’s not spray – it’s a poster.

It’s by a Paris based street artist called Ludo, and is part of a series called Nature’s Revenge – I had never heard of him before but noticed afterwards that he was done quite some work in Paris.

Check out this link http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/18/view/3573/natures-revenge-by-ludo.html

It’s pretty cool and a different way, pretty environmentally friendly.

What about bio-graffiti?

Enjoy…

 

PS: I was offered a room at a pretty neat hotel in the 10th called Taylor Hotel, it’s a sort of design hotel, the reception area is all decorated with images of posters from early 20th century. Almost stencils… [;-]

Paris in Color – surrealist photography

I recently showed my blog around and showed some of the amazing photography of JM Berts to friends. I am still startled by the photos he takes and the quality of the shots.

A friend of mine showed me some of his photography of Paris (and other places). Some of it is done using a technology called HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging) it’s pretty amazing. I invite you to check out his site (www.photoserge.com) and his blog (there are two one is http://sergeramelli.blogspot.com/ and http://photoserge.com/blog) for some of the shots.

He said he is doing an expo soon and that you can buy photos from him, unfortunately he doesn’t have an online store yet but that is coming soon.

Well Paris is a photogenic city that is for sure…  enjoy [,-]

Skull Stencil? or just painting?

I spotted this skull in Copenhagen some weeks ago.It seems too detailed to be a stencil but then again it could be.

It seems to be legal which is nice. I wish there would be places like this for the more expressive stencils like Dolk’s or Banksie’s.

I also had a skull stencil in another post with a picture of a Dolk stencil I took in Copenhagen.

If anyone knows what they are or where they come from – please put a comment! Thanks.

[.-]