My soup - posts tagged 'Urban art'

The Mask!

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:02:00 GMT

Another discovery of one of these embedded masks that you can find everywhere in Paris. Let me remind you that they are made by Gregos, an street artist who started posting white/blank faces about 3 years ago. He started introducing color at the beginning of 2009. I love them. I photographed this one at rue de Picardie in the 3rd arrondissement.

Icarus at La Défense

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:03:02 GMT

I had a meeting at La Défense this morning. La Défense - for those of you who would have forgotten - is a business district right outside Paris where mostly skyscrapers are to be found. But not only... there is also a lot or "street"(there are no actual streets over there!) art, like this one, a stunning statue of Icare (Icarus), made by Igor Mitoraj.

Le Cyklop

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 22:05:00 GMT

Let me introduce you to Olivier, aka "Le Cyklop". If you're at least a one year follower to PDP, this name should ring a bell as I already talked about him when I photographed one of his early work at Place Saint Sulpice. Le Cyklop uses the Paris bollards and turns them into works of art - especially the round part at their top that he turns into "eyes" (which explains why he calls himself the Cyklop). Nice guy too, I was happy to meet him. See more of his work on his site.

Jeff Aerosol

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 22:15:00 GMT

You know how I love to show you the street artists I come across when I walk through the streets of Paris (see several examples here). The most famous one, to me, is Jeff Aerosol. Last Friday, as I went to the opening of a Urban Art exhibition at Gallery Uni-ver I finally got to meet him (and yes, as you probably have guessed, he is the little man in this photo ;-) As for the blue figure in the foreground it was made by another well-known street artist: Zlotykamien.

A little glamor...

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:01:00 GMT

I found this poster at Beaubourg, just above a restaurant and I really loved it right away. The "curtain" is actually a garland (probably a remain from Christmas?!). I thought that after yesterday's demonstrations and the sh... weather that we're experiencing at the moment, it was time for a little glamor. And when it comes to glamor we have our share in Paris, but Marylin is eternal ;-)

The exercise tower

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:28:41 GMT

Here is a pretty interesting sculpture I came across by coincidence in the 17th. It was made by Wang Du, a Chinese artist who has been living in France for 20 years now and who was ordered a monument dedicated to the Paris firemen, by the Paris town hall. It's called the Exercise Tower, and it's located right in front of one of the largest fire stations in Paris, at Place Jules Renard. It weighs 7 tons, it's 11 meters high and it's made of polished iron, just like the firemen helmets. Which makes it pretty difficult to photograph LOL!

True art

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:04:00 GMT

I found this "graffiti" (I don't really dare calling it graffiti, as it's really more of a painting than a graffito to me), at the entrance of Jardin Villemin in the 10th arrondissement, by the Gare de l'est. I could not help but thinking of the cave men whose painting is now considered as work of art by our civilisation... Will this painting also be considered as a work of art in thousands of years (providing it survives that long!) or just as another tag on a wall? I tried to decipher the signature in the upper left corner - it reads Cho, or something like that - but I have been unable to track him/her down on the Internet.

The Mask!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:03:00 GMT

I don't know if you remember, but I already showed you one of these masks last October and I know some of you find them scary, but I can't help being captivated by them. Unlike "simple" graffiti, they are strongly glued to walls, facades or, in the present case bridge (I took this photograph at Le Pont du Louvre). Like I already explained, they represent the face of Gregos, the artist who makes - and glue - them!

Open air museum

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:02:00 GMT

This is a part of what they call "an open air exhibit" which is, in fact, a collection of tags and Graffiti on a huge canvas hiding a building that is currently being redone. The photo was not easy to take as the building is enormous and the street in which it is located (rue de Prosny) is pretty narrow... So even with a wide angle I could only take a small portion of it. The idea is good though and the project too; not only does it hide ugly work, not only does it promote artists but on top of that their work will be sold for a charity at the end of the work, in July. There is much more to learn on the website (in French only, sorry) under the tab "Wagram"

Art performance really?

Wed, 19 May 2010 22:01:01 GMT

Sometimes, when it comes to art - and art performances in particular - I don't always get it... Hence, this little number that I came across with last evening in front of La Bourse building (the one you see in the background). A certain Miss Dora O'range was surrounded by a little crowd watching her doing her performance (light up a fire, playing golf with an orange she had just covered in petrol like in this photo...). The leaflet that was distributed there by her "assistants" says that "Miss Dora likes to play with the boundaries of normality". You bet! More on this website if you're intrigued.