Paris, France has an active street art scene which is home to artists such as Space Invader and Zevs.
Some connect the origins of street art in France to Lettrism of the 1940s and Situationist slogans painted on the walls of Paris starting in the late 1950s. Nouveau realists of the 1960s, including Jacques de la Villeglé, Yves Klein and Arman interacted with public spaces but, like Pop Art, kept the traditional studio-gallery relationship. The 1962 street installation Rideau de Fer (Iron Curtain) by Christo and Jeanne-Claude is cited as an early example of unsanctioned street art. In the 1970s, the site-specific work of Daniel Buren appeared in the Paris subway. Blek le Rat and the Figuration Libre movement became active in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

^Artists

Invader (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Invader's Pac-Man mosaics in Bilbao (BBO 24–27), near the Guggenheim Museum

Invader is the pseudonym of a well-known French urban artist, born in 1969, whose work is modelled on the crude pixellation of 1970s 8-bit video games. He took his name from the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders, and much of his work is composed of square ceramic tiles inspired by video game characters. Although he prefers to remain incognito, and guards his identity carefully, his distinctive creations can be seen in many highly-visible locations in more than 60 cities in 30 countries.^[1] He documents each intervention in a city as an "Invasion", and has published books and maps of the location of each of his street mosaics.
In addition to working with tiles, Invader is one of the leading proponents of indoor mosaics created using stacks of Rubik's Cubes in a style he refers to as "Rubikcubism". He is also known for his QR code mosaic works.

Zevs - Liquidated Google, 2010

Liquidated Logos

Since the mid-00s Zevs has become famous for his work with dripping brand logos. A beautiful illusion is created by the dripping paint from the logos, giving them an appearance of dissolving. His Liquidated Logos touch upon fashion, financial, and pop cultural brands to comment on their omnipresence and yet instability of their existence in today's world.
See: www.crookedbrains.net

Lettrism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou.^[1] In a body of work totaling hundreds of volumes, Isou and the Lettrists have applied their theories to all areas of art and culture, most notably in poetry, film, painting and political theory. The movement has its theoretical roots in Dada and Surrealism. Isou viewed his fellow countryman, Tristan Tzara, as the greatest creator and rightful leader of the Dada movement, and dismissed most of the others as plagiarists and falsifiers.^[2] Among the Surrealists, André Breton was a significant influence, but Isou was dissatisfied by what he saw as the stagnation and theoretical bankruptcy of the movement as it stood in the 1940s.^[3]
In French, the movement is called Lettrisme, from the French word for letter, arising from the fact that many of their early works centred on letters and other visual or spoken symbols. The Lettristes themselves prefer the spelling 'Letterism' for the Anglicised term, and this is the form that is used on those rare occasions when they produce or supervise English translations of their writings: however, 'Lettrism' is at least as common in English usage. The term, having been the original name that was first given to the group, has lingered as a blanket term to cover all of their activities, even as many of these have moved away from any connection to letters. But other names have also been introduced, either for the group as a whole or for its activities in specific domains, such as 'the Isouian movement', 'youth uprising', 'hypergraphics', 'creatics', 'infinitesimal art' and 'excoördism'.

Nouveau réalisme

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(Redirected from Nouveau Réalisme)

This article is about the art movement. For the school of early 20th-century epistemology, see New realism (philosophy). For the theory of international relations, see Neorealism in international relations.

The Nouveau Réalisme Manifesto, signed by all of the original members in Yves Klein's apartment, 27 October 1960

Nouveau réalisme (New realism) refers to an artistic movement founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany^[1] and the painter Yves Klein during the first collective exposition in the Apollinaire gallery in Milan. Pierre Restany wrote the original manifesto for the group, titled the "Constitutive Declaration of New Realism," in April 1960, proclaiming, "Nouveau Réalisme—new ways of perceiving the real."^[2] This joint declaration was signed on 27 October 1960, in Yves Klein's workshop, by nine people: Yves Klein, Arman, Martial Raysse, Pierre Restany, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely and the Ultra-Lettrists, Francois Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Jacques de la Villeglé; in 1961 these were joined by César, Mimmo Rotella, then Niki de Saint Phalle and Gérard Deschamps. The artist Christo showed with the group. It was dissolved in 1970.^[2]
Contemporary of American pop art, and often conceived as its transposition in France, new realism was, along with Fluxus and other groups, one of the numerous tendencies of the avant-garde in the 1960s. The group initially chose Nice, on the French Riviera, as its home base since Klein and Arman both originated there; new realism is thus often retrospectively considered by historians to be an early representative of the Ecole de Nice movement.^[3]

Jacques Villeglé

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(Redirected from Jacques de la Villeglé)

Jacques Villeglé
Jacques Villeglé, 2008
Born	Jacques Villeglé 27 March 1926 (age 87) Quimper
Nationality	French
Known for	Lettrism
Movement	New Realism

Jacques Villeglé

Jacques Villeglé, born Jacques Mahé de la Villeglé (27 March 1926, Quimper, Brittany) is a French mixed-media artist and affichiste famous for his alphabet with symbolic letters and decollage with ripped or lacerated posters. He builds posters in which one has been placed over another or others, and the top poster or posters have been ripped, revealing to a greater or lesser degree the poster or posters underneath. He is a member of the Nouveau Réalisme art group (1960–1970). His work has primarily focused on the anonymous and on the marginal remains of civilization.
Villeglé first started producing art in 1947 in Saint-Malo by collecting found objects (steel wires, bricks from Saint-Malo's Atlantic retaining wall). In December 1949, he concentrated his work on ripped advertising posters from the street. Working with fellow artist Raymond Hains, Villeglé began to use collage and found/ripped posters from street advertisements in creating Ultra-Lettrist psychogeographical hypergraphics in the 1950s, and in June 1953, he published Hepérile Éclaté, a phonetic poem by Camille Bryen, which was made unreadable when read through strips of grooved glass made by Hains. In February 1954, Villeglé and Hains met the Lettrism poet François Dufrêne, and this latter introduced them to Yves Klein, Pierre Restany and Jean Tinguely. In 1958, Villeglé published an overview of his work on ripped posters, Des Réalités collectives, which is to a certain degree a prefiguration of the manifesto of the New Realism group (1960) which he joined at its inception.

Yves Klein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yves Klein
Yves Klein during the work on the Gelsenkirchen Opera, 1959
Born	28 April 1928 Nice, France
Died	6 June 1962 (aged 34) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Known for	Painting, performance art
Notable work(s)	IKB 191 (1962) Monotone Symphony (1949)
Movement	Nouveau Réalisme

Yves Klein (French: [iv klɛ̃]; 28 April 1928 – 6 June 1962) was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by art critic Pierre Restany. Klein was a pioneer in the development of performance art, and is seen as an inspiration to and as a forerunner of Minimal art, as well as Pop art.

Arman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Arman (disambiguation).

Armand Pierre ARMAN
Portrait of Arman by Lothar Wolleh, 1963.
Born	Armand Fernandez November 17, 1928 Nice, France
Died	October 22, 2005 (aged 76) New York City
Nationality	French, naturalized U.S.A.
Known for	Sculpture, Painting, Printmaking
Movement	Nouveau Réalisme

Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist.^[1] Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman is a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave ("cachet", "allures d'objet") to using them as the painting itself. He is best known for his "accumulations" and destruction/recomposition of objects.

Pop art

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Pop Art)

This article is about the art movement. For other uses, see Pop art (disambiguation).

Richard Hamilton's collage Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? (1956) is one of the earliest works to be considered "pop art".

Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States.^[1] Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture such as advertising, news, etc. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, and/or combined with unrelated material.^[1]^[2] The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.^[2]
Pop art employs aspects of mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects. It is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, as well as an expansion upon them.^[3] And due to its utilization of found objects and images it is similar to Dada. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony.^[2] It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques.
Pop art and minimalism are considered to be art movements that precede postmodern art, or are some of the earliest examples of Post-modern Art themselves.^[4]
Pop art often takes as its imagery that which is currently in use in advertising. Product labeling and logos figure prominently in the imagery chosen by pop artists, like in the Campbell's Soup Cans labels, by Andy Warhol. Even the labeling on the shipping box containing retail items has been used as subject matter in pop art, for example in Warhol's Campbell's Tomato Juice Box 1964, (pictured below), or his Brillo Soap Box sculptures.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Christo" redirects here. For other uses, see Christo (disambiguation).

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Jeanne-Claude and Christo in April 2005
Born	June 13, 1935 (Christo & Jeanne-Claude) Gabrovo, Bulgaria (Christo) Casablanca, Morocco (Jeanne-Claude)
Died	November 18, 2009 (aged 74) (Jeanne-Claude) Manhattan, New York, United States (Jeanne-Claude)
Education	Christo: National Academy of Arts Vienna Academy of Fine Arts Jeanne-Claude: Self–taught
Known for	Environmental art
Notable work(s)	Running Fence The Gates
Movement	Nouveau réalisme Environmental art
Awards	Praemium Imperiale
Website
christojeanneclaude.net

Christo (born Hristo Vladimirov Yavachev, Bulgarian: Христо Явашев, June 13, 1935) and Jeanne-Claude (born Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009) were a married couple who created environmental works of art. Christo Yavachev is Bulgarian born and Jeanne-Claude was born in Morocco. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile (39 km)-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City's Central Park.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same date, Christo in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco. They first met in Paris in October 1958. Their works were credited to just "Christo" until 1994, when the outdoor works and large indoor installations were retroactively credited to "Christo and Jeanne-Claude".^[1] They flew in separate planes: in case one crashed, the other could continue their work.^[2]
Jeanne-Claude died, aged 74, on November 18, 2009, from complications of a brain aneurysm.^[1]
Although their work is visually impressive and often controversial as a result of its scale, the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes. Art critic David Bourdon has described Christo's wrappings as a "revelation through concealment."^[3] To his critics Christo replies, "I am an artist, and I have to have courage ... Do you know that I don't have any artworks that exist? They all go away when they're finished. Only the preparatory drawings, and collages are left, giving my works an almost legendary character. I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain."^[4]

Daniel Buren

Work

Sometimes classified as an abstract minimalist Buren is known best for using regular, contrasting colored stripes in an effort to integrate visual surface and architectural space, notably on historical, landmark architecture.
Among his chief concerns is the 'scene of production' as a way of presenting art and highlighting facture (the process of 'making' rather than for example, mimesis or representation of anything but the work itself). The work is site-specific installation, having a relation to its setting in contrast to prevailing ideas of an autonomous work of art.

Blek le Rat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Xavier Prou (Blek le Rat) at the gallery opening and book signing at the 941 Geary Gallery, San Francisco

Blek le Rat, (pronounced: [blɛk lə ʁa]; born Xavier Prou,^[1] 1952)^[2] was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "Father of stencil graffiti".^[3]

Figuration Libre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Figuration Libre (Free figuration) is a French art movement of the 1980s. It is the French equivalent of Bad Painting and Neo-expressionism in America and Europe, Junge Wilde in Germany and Transvanguardia in Italy. The term was coined by Fluxus artist Ben Vautier.
The group was formed in 1981 by Robert Combas, Remi Blanchard, François Boisrond and Hervé Di Rosa.^[1] Other figures include Richard Di Rosa and Louis Jammes. Between 1982 and 1985, these artists exhibited alongside their American counterparts Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf in New York City, London, Pittsburgh and Paris.^[2]
Figuration Libre (Free Figuration) can be translated as “Free Style”.