Paris Street Art: In Situ at Fort d'Aubervillers

On what turned out to be an extremely hot day (even for my Italian accomplice, it wasn't just my mainly British-conditioning) and the final day of In Situ, I went to go check it out before it was closed. And I am mighty glad we braved the heat because it was well worth a visit. 

One of the first few pieces.

The entrance gate to Fort d'Aubervillers.

This was one of my favorites, though a little unnerving with all the eyeballs, I loved the contrast of textures between the slightly rusty corrugated iron at the back and Victorian-esque angel perching among the rocks and eyes.

Ram-skull..? I am sold. I have a minor (major?) fascination with these...!

What really struck me about the exhibit was location combined with the colors. Though it felt a little like we were attending an exhibition in the desert at times (the foliage in these pictures are deceiving as most of the land was barren- owing to the concrete), the sheer brightness and power of the art in a somewhat neglected grey space was very effective. Also put me in any abandoned place that has been reclaimed by humans and I am happy...

My friend that came with me also commented (and I agree) that more ugly warehouse type buildings ought to be spruced up like this. Like William Morris said, 'Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or beautiful', or in this case, outside..!

This one below was a tribute to the punks that occupied the space after it ceased to be of use to the military.

Several burnt out cars had also been reclaimed as an unconventional canvas, I recognized the handiwork of the one below from some art in the 13 arrondissement of Paris.

 And this one reminded me of the picture I saw in Strasbourg, I think its the same artist.

 This was one of my favorite areas, where the artists were each assigned an alcove to fill.

Gagged chicken, just 'cuz.

Catacombs anyone??

 I adored this one, with all the butterflies, it deff struck a cord- books can indeed inspire dreams.

This one below is just stunning, "Open your Eyes".

 A WIP.

And finally, I leave you with Superman.

Street Art 13: A Street Art Walk Around the 13th

My most recent ambles around Paris involved a street art walk around the 13th arrondissement of Paris, using this map we followed a trail of art and it was truly stunning. I have very little sense of direction so I had to rely on my trusty friend and his iPad (I am really quite bad when it comes to technology also).

These were the first two we saw, both are by Seth, the trademark blue hair (of which I am jealous of) is telling. 

This one was particularly interesting because the face was not painted on but cut away from the plaster, and was made by the sculptor Vhils (Alexandre Farto). Below is a piece by Inti.

Below, The Alapinta Crew, Aner and Maher, from Temuco and Villarrica, represent the vitality of a Chilean Mapuche lands in this graffiti. 

Below left is a mural by Obey (Shepard Fairey), below right is just a pretty view of the church at Place d'Italie that I risked taking whilst standing in the middle of a road!

Above by C125.

 This rather cute cat (above left) is another example of C215's work, above right M-City.

Below, Jana et Js, a duo of photographers looming over rue Jeanne d'Arc. Above is of course Obey's work from behind the bridge, as I rather like industrial bridges I could not resist this picture. 

Above is another by C215 and this one was easily my favourite. Birds, feathers, stunning colours… Its just incredible. We by no means exhausted the map and only explored a small section of it, however when we came to the end of the section we wanted to explore that day, we came upon a WIP (below). I would strongly recommend exploring the 13th, it really is worth what became a very long walk...