Vive La France: Paris Street Art
Adapted from the UP Magazine piece by BSZ’s Scott Orr, the full article is here.
“There is a real taste and frenzy for street art these days,” said Nô, whose work often features realistic depictions of needy children and other marginalized people. “I guess because it’s alive and open to anyone, as opposed to galleries and museums, which are more closed and reserved to an elite,” said the street artist known as Nô.
Paris is home to hundreds, maybe thousands, of art museums and galleries from the globally venerated, like the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay; to those focusing on specific artists, Picasso, Rodin, Monet, to name a few; to smaller galleries that feature local talent, including street artists. And there are open air street art “galleries,” like Spot 13 in the 13th Arrondissement and the Passage des Abbesses in Montmartre, all across town. This, it has been said, makes the street Paris’ biggest museum.
Galleries in Paris, like their counterparts in New York and around the world, recognize the appeal of street art and many street artists are adjusting their practices to make a move from the streets, where size, medium and message are wholly unconstrained, to the gallery environment where, generally, more rules apply. Some do so reluctantly.
“Painting the streets will always be the best or the ‘purest,’ as you can just express yourself freely, regardless of any commercial purpose. But of course artists need to eat… so I guess at some point, selling stuff in a gallery becomes a necessity to be able to develop yourself,” said Nô.
“I think there is definitely a booming market, hence the fact that many traditional galleries seem to be more and more interested by it,” he added.
But the flourishing of street art in Paris is about much more than the alternative to the gallery world the streets provide for artists. Perhaps the main reason it thrives so, and that authorities are so tolerant, is that people, Parisians and visitors alike, simply love it.
