Flying the Colors

There's no reason why we can't be both patriotic and Francophilic (that's not a disease, just in case you were wondering). So here's our attempt at an abstract American flag photo collage.







I never was very good at collage. It would have been so much easier to just save this post for today. Oh well - Happy 4th of July!

Vanvas Returns

Way back in December, I noticed that graffiti artists had chosen a new medium for their work: delivery vans and trucks. Since then, I've only grown more impressed with the "vanvas" pieces I've seen on the street. There's something about all that pristine space - and maybe the increased visibility/mobility of the vehicle - that inspires invention and fine workmanship. And as far as I can tell, other graffitists seem to refrain from covering over another's vanvas, suggesting that this might constitute enduring art.

There's abstract expressionism:

More traditional work in the "tag" genre:

And searing commentaries on authenticity, luxury, and consumer culture:

As you can tell, I'm a big fan.

                   *                             *                        *                     *                      *

Update, 10 minutes later: Maggie has pointed out that there's a post by one of the Paris bloggers we check regularly which explains this phenomenon as an exchange between market traders and graffiti artists. I'm not entirely sure that covers all the vanvas I've seen, but it's persuasive enough, and Adam's post is much better written. Finding his post makes me feel like I was hip to vanvas when it was still underground!

Galerie Fréhel

The Louvre has two rooms of monumental, large-format French paintings from the early 19th century. But those rooms can't compare with the only monumental, large-format, outdoor street art gallery in Paris. Which happens to be right across the street from where we live.

I'm calling it "Galerie Fréhel" after the square that provides the vantage point - and the wall space - for the art. Place Fréhel is also home to Culture Rapide, which gets in on the street art action with its security shutter. You have to wake up pretty early in the morning to see this, since Culture Rapide is open around 18 hours a day.

The main event - Galerie Fréhel in all its glory - is best appreciated from the north side of the Rue de Belleville.

Sorry for the terrible picture, but you get the idea, and what's important is that we haven't seen anything like this anywhere else in Paris. The crazy thing is, it keeps getting better. Originally there were four artworks, all in the right half of the picture above: 1) the "Il faut se méfier des mots" trompe-l'oeil by Ben[jamin Vautier]; 2)  the horizontal bands that form a quadrilateral if you're standing in exactly the right spot, which I am in this picture, by Jean-Luc Albert; 3) the architectural cone in the corner, by Marie Bourget; 4) the "detective" mural by Jean Le Gac. Now there are five artworks, thanks to the newest one on the left, which was painted two days ago (Sunday, March 21) by ZOO project, an anonymous artist whose work we've admired elsewhere. Here's a close-up of the new piece:

I managed to catch the artist in action, and in the picture above you see him taking down his ladder. The wall on which he painted may eventually be covered by whatever building is going up on that lot (construction has been slow and it's unclear what they're planning) but in the meantime we get to enjoy this provocative art. The caption is taken from a song by Renaud: "I yelled for months, I shouted from all the rooftops, Society, you won't have me."

We saw this second ZOO project work from Rue Oberkampf way back in the fall. It's since been painted over, but the artwork and message ("be statistically correct, have 1.5 children") stuck with us, so it was easy to make the connection between the two works. If you're into the artist's style, there's a Flickr group dedicated to the artist, and great shots on individual blogs.

Even if the new ZOO project work gets covered up, Place (or should I say Galerie) Fréhel will still be the Louvre of contemporary street art, at least in Paris. And who knows - maybe some day, we'll think of the Louvre as the Galerie Fréhel of pre-20th-century art.

Fête de la Saint-Patrick

No one seems to be celebrating around here (at least not in Belleville, which seems to have welcomed every ethnic and religious group but Irish Catholics), but that needn't stop us from paying hommage to St. Patrick, aka Sanctus Patricius, aka Naomh Padraig, on his feast day. So here's some green from our photo archive.

Barbie, Rue Dénoyez, all made-up for the St. Paddy's Day Parade

Park behind the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, 4e arr.

Lockers, Archives Nationales

Chinese New Year's Day Parade

Lobby, Hôtel Georges V

Completely unintelligible pedestrian sign, Lyon

Napoleon's "Camp" Bed, Fontainebleau

Wall tiles, Le Bon Marché

Design-y Lamps, 5e arr.

Happy St. Patrick's day!