Blek the Rat, born Xavier Prou, is an internationally famous street artist. He is known as being the pioneer for use of life-size stencil characters in graffiti. He started as a Parisian who attended Beaux-Arts, studying fine art and architecture (Forbes). With these credentials, one would think he would turn out more like Frank Ghery. How did he turn to graffiti art?
Before he even graduated from Beaux, Prou took
a fateful trip to New York in the 70s. During this trip, he became very
interested in the art that had developed on the streets of New York City. He
has said, ‘”I was so impressed it took me 10 year to digest what I saw”’
(StencilRevolution). After those ten years of NYC’s street art stewing around
in his mind, inspiration was triggered once he saw youths tagging a building. He
decided to pick up graffiti art.
At the time, graffiti was
not considered an art form at all—it was more an act of rebellion. Rather, le
Rat can actually be credited for inspiring graffiti as a form of expression of
urban themes. Before le Rat and others like him, graffiti was less an art and
more a mark of possession, used by gangs to denote territory. Therefore, not
only was le Rat’s art creative, it was also revolutionary. Blek le Rat helped
graffiti art gain legitimacy, changing it from an image of fear and violence
(StencilRevolution). Because of his efforts on the streets, spray paint has
become the modern paint brush.
Below is a video where le
Rat paints using his typical stencil method, and explains some of his creative
process. Most of his stencils are created by hand, with themes inspired by each
individual location. He has even been known to tweak images that he has done in
order to adapt them to the city he is painting the piece. He travels from city to city and tries to present the tones of each individual city’s atmosphere. The city atmosphere dictates one of the key stylistic features of his art: the black and white stenciled images.
Compared to other famous
street artists, such as Banksy, Blek le Rat’s motivations have remained pretty
intrinsic. From the start, Prou said he just wanted to “free himself from the
feeling of anonymity caused by living in a major city” (Stencil Revolution). Although
this may seem like an extrinsic motivation for fame, Blek le Rat stayed
anonymous until the police actually released his identity after they had arrested
him.
Also, compared to Banksy’s
pieces, one of which was sold for over a million dollars, Prou’s art is sold at
much lower rates. According to Forbes, at his shows le Rat’s prices range from
$300 to $4,000 depending on size. The more affordable prizes are not based on
skill level, either. Rather, Banksy has actually been accused of plagiarizing some
of le Rat’s work. The similarities are particularly striking between le Rat’s
TV helmet piece (top) and Banksy’s TV heads piece (bottom) (StencilRevolution).
Although he says his
motivations are not political, he has more recently painted images of Barack
Obama and the homeless. For his work portraying the conditions of homelessness
especially, it appears le Rat has altruistic motivations. By painting life-size
images of homelessness on the streets, le Rat brings attention to a serious
issue in urban areas. While people generally avoid the homeless, they are
willing to stop and contemplate a painting of homelessness. This project
especially is distinct from his other images of less serious urban themes (such
as the TV helmets and tango dancers for which he is known).
There is a significant
cost to his illegal art, however. He has been arrested numerous times, and has
to paint quickly so as to not be caught. With such a mental cost, and relatively little
artistic payoff (after all, he can’t take the walls with him and he has to
paint very quickly), le Rat describes himself as “weary” (StencilRevolution). His
motivations are becoming more extrinsic, as a desire for retirement is setting
in. I wonder if there will be a noticeable change in his artwork, as his
motivations shift?
Works Cited:
http://www.stencilrevolution.com/profiles/blek-le-rat/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2014/10/20/forget-banksy-meet-blek-le-rat-the-father-of-stencil-graffiti/#55eb0c3440f0
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFTNhdVf-kY
I wrote a post about Banksy and it is fascinating to learn about street and graffiti art! The fact that le Rat and others like him are willing to work endlessly for their art, despite the risk is astounding to me. I am also curious if le Rat will one day reach a point where he does not feel his art is worth the arrests, and if he will either quit art altogether or shift to a different medium.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of le Rat but am fascinated by his work. It is very interesting that he works primarily for intrinsic reward. When I think of street artists, I usually think of someone trying to make a social or political statement, but that appears to not really be the case with le Rat (except for in the examples you mentioned). Even the prices you listed demonstrate little concern for extrinsic reward. I wonder why he does not feel the call to paint on specific urban ills, like many other street artists? Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLike Sarah, I've never heard of le Rat either! What an interesting artist - and the fact that Banksy, arguably the most famous graffiti artist in the world, is accused of plagiarizing his work points to the fact that le Rat is definitely far more intrinsic than Banksy, who seems to have extrinsic motivations that the blogger touched on. His weariness is sad, though, since the pictures provided were so beautifully done - and raises a pointed question as to why are the police focusing on this very non-violent, individualistic 'crime' (most likely through the zero-tolerance policy implemented by the police department) when it is inspirational, thought-provoking art and other far more dangerous-to-the-public crime is happening? That is a shutdown on creativity indeed.
ReplyDelete