Street art, wall art, public art—whatever you choose to call it—is everywhere these days, but some places have made a specialty of it, even created programs to encourage it. In Paris, the 13th arrondissement is an example of both. It’s an area where ancient Parisian villages survive, but also an area where many modern high-rises have grown.
Huge murals on the sides of high-rises have been encouraged and organized by the local town hall, working with art groups. There’s even a map and guided tours. But as stunning as some of them are, they lack the edge, the guerrilla character, the direct appeal of the more ad hoc work that’s grown up all over the smaller streets of the district.
Even as I say that, I should make clear that not all the art that’s found a home on humbler walls is full of deep-seated meaning; some is just fun. And some manage to make serious points with humorous designs.
The happy lizard is clearly intended as an environmental warning, but perhaps the two following are, well, just good to look at.
I was amused by Bolivar mounted on both a horse and a banknote, and by the penguins peering around a corner. I was also amused to see the Cyclops reimagined as a woman—and then surprised when I later discovered that the inscription ‘faire pleurer le cyclope’—’make the Cyclops cry’—is actually a slang phrase meaning to take a leak. That one, by the way, is the work of an artist who signs work as “Walls Have Ears.”
Three portraits…
Superheroines, supernaturals, and an oddly literal ‘mocking bird.’
Is this meant to be Noah’s Ark? Perhaps…
A familiar character turns up among a crew painting on a wall…
A variety of punchy styles… and some miniature tile appliques at ankle level.
A Banksy-like boy and, as must come for all, The End.
