Paris Street Art
Although Paris has approximately around 130 official museums, I have always had a fascination with the vibrant colors you see used in street art. The term “street art” according to Wikipedia means visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Basically what that means is artwork that is created in a public space, typically without official permission.
Street art started its origin in graffiti artwork slowly evolving to include stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheat pasting and street poster art. Nowadays, this form of expression is being called contemporary art, abstract and even surrealism. It is not just an art expression though, it has actually become an inevitable integral element of contemporary art.
André Saraiva one of the original pioneers in the Paris scene was born and raised in Sweden to Portuguese parents. He is known for his graffiti work that stems back to the 1980s.
One of my favorite is is the French street artist “invader” kwnon for affixing his pixelated graphics of the 1970s arcade games in out of the way locations throughout Paris. You can follow him on his Instagram account to view more of his mosaic style art. Although there are still some who do not agree with his artwork for the time being his identity remains a mystery as he continues to appear in public wearing a mask.
Since 2016, Paris’ city hall announced that a chunk of the budget participatif which is about $500 million euros and must be used by 2020 could be applied towards creating murs d’expression, or street walls, in all 20 arrondissements.
If you are interested in street art then explore the streets of Paris as they appear more often than not and are getting more and more creative. Enjoy some of my other favorite streetarts as seen through my eyes.
