July 21, 2002
Street Art
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| Photo: Jules Backus. Juillet. |
Nemo is an artist, you see.
Well, so are all these other guys:
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| Space Invaders. Mai-Juillet. |
Made with tiles that mesh well with the early-video-game digitization, images from the classic Atari game. Genuinely all over Paris.
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| Andre. Mai-Juillet. |
"Andre's" classic characters are all over back-alleys and ultra-high-profile sites alike. Some gay nightclubs (Le Bains de Marais, for example) use his image/name on their advertising.
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| "Balki". Mai-Juillet. |
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| Mini-"Balki". Mai-Juillet. |
This funny-looking dude is in my favorite genre, actually: the pure-irony, self-aggrandisement style of mass-produced, un-craftsmanlike graffitti. The whole "spray can authenticity" is nonsense if you ask me -- but this may be an impression I developed in observing neurotic, ethnic Brooklynites "pose" street-tuff.
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| Trocadero. Mai-Juillet. |
This is the kind of juxtaposition just sings the harmony of individual and social in public life.
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| Metro. Mai-Juillet. |
Not a heck of a lot down under, but some.
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| At the Louvre. Mai-Juillet. |
Another zinger afforded by construction walls.
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| The N-man. Mai-Juillet. |
And of course the little man who stocked the Louvre to the gills did not leave off his signature.