2020 Blek Le Rat Interview (IT)
"Great street artists have their own style and personality."
Intrview with Blek Le Rat, father of stencil art
by Federico Giannini (Instagram: @federicogiannini1), published on 24/05/2020
Original interview, in other languages, at Finestre sull'Arte
Blek Le Rat [his Stencil Archive] is one of the world's greatest street artists whose career is about to turn 40 years old. We interviewed him and got an insight into his art.
Street artist Blek Le Rat (Xavier Prou; Paris, 1951) is one of the pioneers of international street art and the father and initiator of stencil graffiti, the same technique that would be used and made famous by Banksy, who can be considered an epigone of the French artist. His career began in 1981, when he began painting on the streets of Paris after being fascinated by the graffiti he met in New York on a trip in the 1970s. Blek Le Rat is thus about to turn 40 years old: we caught up with him for an interview about his art and his latest works. The interview is curated by Federico Giannini, editor in chief of Finestre Sull’Arte.
FG. To begin with, I would like to talk about your latest work, M.U.R. (Mobulable, Urbain et Réactif), made in Rennes in September 2019. Can you tell us about this work, how it was made, how the idea came about?
BLR. I am not used to working on modular walls: it was the first time I intervened in this mode. I had been invited by Patrick Daniello, president of the association Le mur de Rennes, and it seemed to me a beautiful thing, also because under these conditions, that is, when you work on an “authorized” wall, you do not work in urgency, and with the fear of being arrested by the police. Therefore, one can continue to think about the image while working, one can build in multiple times because mishaps do not arise due to the extreme urgency of having to quickly finish an image made illegally. Regarding this modular work in Rennes, a friend, Thierry Gauthé, known as Bergu, had arrived in the morning to see me paint. The fortuitousness of this encounter led us to agree that it would be wonderful if Thierry intervened on the image as he did on my stencils in the 1980s, adding his famous bats. It was a magical moment, I really enjoyed this work in Rennes, and looking back at the image today I still cannot help but see in it a relation to the Covid-19 epidemic.
