Thursday, January 23, 2020

Street Art in Paris #9

We have enjoyed seeing street art while rambling around Paris.

Here is the final blog post on street art for Year 4. 
Patrick McGoohan as The Prisoner
We thought the street portrait below was especially good.


Here are more mosaics by Invader.  According to the Invader app, there are more than 2,500 mosaics in Paris and around the world.


The street artist known as A2 has placed symbols like the two below all over Paris.  We think the symbol means "I love Paris", based on the red heart and stylized depiction of the Eiffel Tower.


We also see these bas-relief cement pieces glued onto various walls.


A thoughtful homage to the late Robert Indiana
Below is a random collection of street art from all over Paris.



During Year 4, we have spotted the poster pictured below many times all over Paris.  Apparently, the anonymous street artist has been pasting the same poster for a decade.  Everything about the poster is a mystery: Who is John Hamon? Does he exist? Is this Hamon's face?, etc.  Jean-Claude thinks the mystery enhances the artist's effort to entertain and provoke viewers.


The artist even pasted the ubiquitous poster on the side of France's Academy of Fine Arts.


This past Summer, before the special Leonardo da Vinci exhibition opened at the Louvre, the poster pictured below appeared in Paris: John Hamon as Mona Lisa.


We spotted another modified John Hamon poster.  Someone placed a new face on the poster.


The building at 59 Rue de Rivoli was once the home of squatters who were artists.  Following a legal battle, the City of Paris now owns the building and rents studios to dozens of artists.  We toured the building (interior photos were prohibited) and were impressed with some of the artwork, most of which was contemporary and abstract.



Above, some street art on the wall of 59 Rivoli

In early October, the environmental group Extinction Rebellion demonstrated around the world, including in Paris.  Some of the protesters left behind some street art.   



While visiting Montmartre, we spotted some mobile street art on the back of a delivery truck, the iconic moustache of Salvador Dali who lived in Paris for a time.


Thanks for viewing Paris street art with us.

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