Jun 25, 2023
C215
Christian Guémy alias C215 is a major French artist on the street art scene.
Forty years old, he lives in Vitry-sur-Seine where he has his workshops. He mainly works with stencil with a very recognizable style. Apart from his interventions in the streets of the whole world, he presents works painted on recycled objects in many galleries, in France and abroad.
Christian Guémy started stenciling in 2006. He participated in the MUR in 2007 and in 2013 produced a 25-meter painted wall in Paris, metro Nationale, representing a cat.
In 2013, he also painted the face of the Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira, then the target of racist attacks. Known internationally, Christian Guémy presents works painted on recycled objects in many galleries, in France and around the world.
In 2014 he was asked to create 20 illustrations for the game Far Cry 4 by Ubisoft.
In 2016, C215 “signed” a stamp for the Post Office which honored Léo Ferré. The author, composer and performer would have celebrated his hundredth birthday.
His favorite subjects are childhood, the left behind, the anonymous, lovers, but also animals (dogs, cats and birds), which are particularly present in his urban paintings. His main role model is his daughter Nina, born in 2003.
His style ranges from duotones to the most colorful compositions. The dimensions of his works remain on a human scale, only rarely creating very large painted walls.
A fervent admirer of Caravage, C215 wants to put poetry and emotion in the heart of disembodied cities. His anonymous faces with expressive features testify to his need to rediscover a certain humanity.
“My works place the invisible among celebrities. Through these faces, I want passers-by to confront their own humanity.”
“The art of C215 is to capture light, depth and humanity. It is very difficult to achieve with stencil – his favorite medium – and rarely successful. This technique tends to flatten the images and make them static.
On the contrary, C215 has developed a style of illustration and cutting that reveals the deep personality of his subjects, bringing them an impressionistic light.
Although his technique is meticulous, in the finest sense of the word, C215’s art transcends pure form and seems to touch the very essence of the human soul. It is always a great pleasure for me to come across the works of C215 in the street.”
Shepard Fairey aka OBEY
From July 10 to October 8, 2018, urban artist C215 gives faces to the great figures honored at the Pantheon with the “Illustrious! C215 around the Pantheon”.
Follow a route in the crypt of the Pantheon then in the streets of the 5th arrondissement! You will go behind the scenes of the creation of C215 before leaving the monument to discover the portraits of 28 personalities.
Jul 16, 2022
Originally from the south of France, Seaty now lives in Dubai and has carved out a place for himself among the most emblematic artists of contemporary art in the 21st century. And for good reason, the artist has never ceased to reinvent himself, to evolve, trading the wild graffiti of the beginning of his career for works exposed in the four corners of the world now. A look back at the itinerary of a mysterious street-artist known for his unique signature.
From an early age, Seaty was rocked by the urban influence of the permissive 90’s, oscillating between hip-hop music and the advent of street graffiti. From his passion for this musical trend, his art stems, as the 2000’s current takes him to the streets to establish his creative playground through the urban works he creates throughout the city. Strong of this form of expression a bit vandal, it is in 2008 that the self-taught decides to give a new turn to his Art and devotes all his time to it, like a lone rider whose goal is to share his artistic prism to the eyes of all.
The hobby becomes his profession and his creations go from the rural walls to the painting canvases. It didn’t take long for Seaty to be inducted as a contemporary artist by aficionados of this coveted sphere. Over the past 20 years, the artist whose stage name “Seaty” is the homophone of “city”, a tribute to the genesis of his career, has forged a recognizable signature and a hybrid style split between realism and abstract. There is all its force! To brilliantly combine the genres and to give birth to a unique work at the same time melancholic and colored, such a clever mixture with pop-art accents.
Jul 16, 2022
Banksy, king of provoc
Although he is neither founder nor precursor of this movement, the king of provoc’ Banksy is today the essential star of street art. He is one of the best-known contemporary artists of our time. Since 1993, his work shines on every continent. Stencils, paintings, sculptures, diversions of urban objects or classic works, installations… Banksy is a versatile artist. He plays usurpers and provocateurs. Challenging citizens on the human condition, all with a good dose of humor and second degree. Finally, Banksy kicks into the contemporary artistic anthill, assuring his peers that there is no point in taking oneself too seriously…
A mysterious artist
In all likelihood, Banksy was born in Bristol, Great Britain in 1974. Difficult to get out of the conditional because the artist has spent his life escaping the media in order to remain anonymous. This line of conduct is the very essence of the underground scene he loves. This allows him to act night and day, without ever being discovered. Which earned him some exceptional blows, at the limit of legality. In 2004 he had counterfeit notes bearing the image of Lady Di printed, replacing the Bank of England with Banksy of England, and dispersed them during the Notting Hill carnival. On the walls, some of Banksy’s works denounce the deprivation of liberty, especially on the Gaza wall or that of Jerusalem, where he paints openings, views of the beach, on the clouds, this ladder that reaches the top of the wall or children digging a hole. He also denounces the consumer society by pointing the finger at flagship emblems of consumerist America, such as the drawing of this Vietnamese woman irradiated with napalm holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. Other walls encourage us to keep hope. The most famous being Petite fille au ballon. In Bristol, the city that appropriated Banksy, a major exhibition of his work – more than 100 pieces – welcomed more than 300,000 visitors in 2009. Illustrator of the cover of the album of Blur in 2003, Banksy is also director with the film “Faîtes le mur”, released in 2010.
