“As the temperature in London plummets, my thoughts turn to the homeless who have to endure below freezing conditions out on the streets,” reports Helen Soteriou. “I knew Blek Le Rat is an artist passionate about highlighting this issue, so I contacted him to ask a few questions.”
Link: Juxtapoz Magazine – Exclusive Interview: Blek le Rat on Homelessness | Features
Think back to the year 1981, some of us were still pissing ourselves, or not even born. Rick Springfield was singing Jesse’s Girl, Blonde was rapping to Rapture, Regan was doing some acting in the White House and Blek Le Rat was painting the streets of Paris. Unknowingly becoming one of the first pioneer stencil artist of the modern street art movement. Often overlooked by more well known media savvy stencil artists, Blek Le Rat was clearly behind many of the styles we see in the streets today. Although much of Blek’s early work was in the streets of Paris, It was not long before he was traveling the globe and leaving street pieces at every stop, and he still is today. -Manuel Bello
Check it out here.
Juxtapoz:
From the gallery: “Every time I think I have done something slightly original I realise that Blek Le Rat has done it only twenty years earlier” – Banksy
The Leonard Street Gallery announces Blek’s first UK solo exhibition featuring iconic images from the last 3 decades. The exhibition aims to give a complete overview of Blek’s work and to give the current interest in street art a historical context. The exhibition previews on Thursday 12th October (6.30 – 9.30) and runs until 13th November.
A legendary figure in Street Art Blek Le Rat (Xavier Prou) was born in Paris in 1951. Thought by many to be the father of stencil graffiti as an art form, Blek began his unique, complex and intelligent stencil works on the streets of Paris in the 1980’s. Hugely influential to the current generation of street artists Blek’s work bridges the gap between underground street art and the mainstream art world.
Here.
From the Wooster Collective:
For quite some time, King Adz has been working with Blek Le Rat on a documentary which will be released on DVD in the coming weeks. The clip above comes from ‘Blek Le Rat – Original Stencil Pioneer’ There will also be a preview of the film tomorrow in Berlin at 16:00 at the “Eiszeit Kino”(cinema) Zeughofstrasse 20, Berlin
Here.