Underground Paris – Street art, graffiti & culture

Posted on 03/06/202304/06/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Interview with Michael Kershnar

michael kershnar street art paris rue saint maur 11e arrondissement Michael paints at Le Dude bar at Rue St Marthe and Rue St Maur in the 10th arrondissment. Photo by Marco Zavagno (2014)

Hybridisation is probably the most and least suitable noun to describe Michael Kershnar’s work : a mixture of graffiti and skate cultures, indigenous American iconography, Old Testament stories. We met him at an apartment he’d been keeping for a few months, close to the Grands Boulevards, where he took time to graciously share his story with us, along with some cheese and avocado.

How would … Read

Posted on 14/09/201825/02/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Jérôme Mesnager paints artwork for Franprix

Jérôme Mesnager Franprix 60 ans anniversaire Saint Ouen street art paris live painting graffiti

Happy birthday Franprix! Working in association with the French supermarket chain, veteran first generation Parisian street artist, Jérôme Mesnager, plants his latest work outside one of its shops in Saint-Ouen in the department of Saint-Seine-Denis, in the northern outskirts of Paris. Mesnager’s painting celebrates the 60-year anniversary of the company’s founding, depicting two of Mesnager’s hommes en blancs characters, who hold hands and seem to frolic into the distance, surrounded by birds. Franprix is part of the Casino group of grocery outlets, which holds an 11.6% … Read

Posted on 12/08/201613/03/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Interview with Mathieu Tremblin

Tag Clouds “Rue Jules Ferry,” 2012, Arles

Originally from Le Mans, Mathieu Tremblin works in Strasbourg on multi-dimensional pieces that are sometimes subtly satirical and other times blatantly candid. With an approach to the city linked to sixties libertarian texts, Visual Studies, and French Theory, Mathieu Tremblin develops humorous and subtle artistic gestures, actions and interventions for an audience of passersby. In this interview Mathieu discusses the relationship between public ownership, the power of art and the urban context.

How did you begin making urban interventions?… Read

Posted on 19/01/201613/03/2023 by Alternative Parisian — Leave a comment

Interview with Nelio

Nelio artist Lyon rue du paradis performance art geometry IMG_1770 copy Nelio paints at rue du Paradis in Paris’ 10th arrondissment

Does your artistic production look more at the process or at the result?

I have three ways in which I produce, artwork based on a reflection, made as an exercise, and made as an experiment. When my work is based on a reflection, it tends to be the case that I’m aiming at transmitting certain messages in my paintings, whether in relation with observations of the world around me, or by introspective, philosophical or political reflections. … Read

Posted on 03/09/201524/02/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Philippe Hérard on Belleville and his “gugusses”

Painting on craft paper by Philippe Hérard.

If you’ve already ventured into Belleville, in the 20^th arrondissement of Paris, you can be sure you’ve walked past one of Philippe Hérard’s “gugusses”. The French artist has been based in this French quartier – home to Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier – for the past 25 years, and has kindly received us into his atelier, for an interview and coffee.

The stories Hérard pastes up on walls in the street, or paints onto canvas, are those … Read

Posted on 28/05/201525/02/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Intra Larue gets work off her chest in Belleville

Rue Denoyez Belleville Intra Larue Paris street art Intra Larue installs a work with the aid of a city rubbish bin at Rue Dénoyez in the Belleville quarter.

Text by Meredith Shanoski

French street artist Intra Larue started casting plaster sculptures from her breasts as a joke. She works a day-job and hasn’t told her father about the endeavour yet, which is surprising because with 450 painted breasts and counting, her sculptures are slowly giving flecks of colour to a grey Paris.

She sits down with us and pulls her breast sculptures from socks … Read

Posted on 15/09/201413/03/2023 by Alternative Parisian

Le MUR by AMOR flags up French arms trade

Jorge Pomar art exhibition Paris street art graffiti interview Le MUR Oberkampf Jorge Pomar uses naive imagery to bring attention to harder issues such as capitalism and the arms trade.

Naively painted animals toting guns on a public wall in Paris? Chatting with Argentinian artist Jorge Pomar (AMOR), reveals he experiences little anxiety over the potential clash of such imagery.

In Paris to paint at Le M.U.R., the three by eight metre billboard set aside by the city council for the purpose of promoting urban art, his latest painting is child-like and colourful, but actually serves as a … Read

Posted on 09/04/201313/03/2023 by Alternative Parisian — Leave a comment

OEPS HAMA bead graffiti art around Paris

OEPS Crew - street art Paris - Hama bead Copenhagen graffiti hits Oberkampf Denfert-Rochereau Butte-aux-Cailles (1)

Straight outta Copenhagen, OEPS crew, were in Paris at the weekend, placing its unique “HAMA bead” street art around Oberkampf, Denfert-Rochereau and the Butte-aux-Cailles, with assistance from Underground Paris.

The crew, two women, long fascinated by graffiti, but who thought it would take too long to learn properly, live in Nørrebro (north Copehnagen), and since 2007 have been putting up their art outdoors to create complex conversations with the urban environment. Elles vivent à Nørrebro (au nord de Copenhague) et depuis 2007, elles collent leur art … Read

Posted on 02/04/201324/02/2023 by Alternative Parisian

OX forced out of Paris for blue sky billboard hijacking

OX street art paris 3 IMG_0729-copy
French artist, OX’s, latest ad takeover at Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, is a site – and weather – specific artwork that was planned for this out-of-town location due to OX’s fondness for displaying his artworks backed by barren suburban landscapes, as well as the changing nature of the Parisian billboard space, which makes it ever harder to find suitable billboards to hijack.

This latest work incorporates the billboard stand into the work, which OX knots, and camouflages with the blue Paris sky. OX … Read