The latest exhibition by Parisian street artist C215 (Christian Guemy), Prophètes, consisting of his trademark portraits painted onto stained glass as religious icons, opened last night at a gigantic 17th century church in Paris.
C215 is an internationally-known pochoirist who lives and has his studio in his home town of Vitry-sur-Seine, which is just on the outskirts of the Périphérique (Paris ring-road), and also a phenomenal place to discover street art. You can read more about C215 and Vitry in an interview we did with him recently.
Trying to find the Saint Louis chapel, in La Salpétrière public hospital, south Paris was not hard, but it was easy to suspect whether it is actually the venue. The huge dome-topped sacred church looked too majestic to be the location of an exhibition by an artist known for doing illegal street art.
However, once inside all doubts were squashed and the show fit its surroundings marvellously, which made sense, for C215’s street work is also renowned for blending seamlessly into its environment.
The show consists of seventeen portraits of traditional Christian icons in C215’s leitmotif style, realised in stained glass, fixed in front of lightboxes, one of which will be hung on the outside of the city council building permanently from the end of the month. The reason for the odd number, Guemy tells says: “16 + 1 = 17 like the steps of Jesus on a traditionnal “Calvaire”. There are also two larger spraypainted stencil portraits on salvaged wood, as pictured above.
Organised by Galerie Itinerrance and the Mairie de Paris
Venue: Saint-Louis-de-la-Salpêtrière church, 47 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013 Paris
Until 30 April 2012