With books written and studies conducted on the history of street art in the USA and the UK, one must not overlook the history of street art in France, perhaps the most prolific bastion of the movement. Even though we can find evidence of graffiti throughout French history, these marks are usually isolated and rarely so deeply connected to the socio-political context of the moment. Being a proud instigator of big political changes in modern history, France has always nurtured the revolutionary spirit, which consolidated perfectly with the art emerged out of resistance. Today, France, and Paris especially, enforce strict laws against vandalism and damaging of public property and monuments (a law from 1994 determines up to 10 years jail time and fines up to 150,000 euros for vandalism of public landmarks), while street art movement has been paradoxically stronger than ever. A part of the street art appeal perhaps lies in the anonymity of the artistic messenger, with whom people identify instantly. But, in order to completely understand the prevailing need of numerous urban creatives to keep painting where they’re not supposed to, we must revisit careers of some of the pioneers of the art. Flashback to post-war period.



Daniel Buren - Affichages sauvages, 1970 1

Street Art is Beyond Graffiti

And while in New York the graffiti gained shape and meaning in the late 70s, Paris had already moved into a distinct street art direction by then, which is often unjustly overlooked. Stencils, posters and murals appeared around the French capital, announcing a novel understanding of public art, introducing various techniques in addition to the preferred New-Yorkian aerosol. French street art was growing on the country’s artistic heritage, incorporating poster wheat pasting, stenciling and other innovative expressions that did not revolve around lettering alone.

Announcements of street art can be detected already in the Parisian sixties, with the activities of avant-garde artists, Nouveau Realists, and among publicly aware Conceptualists. One of the followers of New Realism was Jacques Villeglé, who devised an innovative way of employing existing posters in artistic creation. At the time, his decollage techniques and an abundant use of typography were considered exceptionally fresh, whereas Villeglé was unaware he was in fact participating in what we today call ‘upcycling’. His art was directly bound to the street, to the grounded life, the anonymous, the marginal, made with found posters.



Jacques Villeglé

Posters as Medium

Inclusion of public space in art grew, as was the involvement of artists in the public space. On the wave of performance and abstract minimalism, but also driven by increasing usage of easy-to-reproduce posters, Daniel Buren created a site-specific installation Affichages sauvages across Parisian metro in 1970, moving on to subway in Tokyo and New York. This, essentially, culture-jamming project the artist initiated in 1967, when the first ‘savage views’ were posted. Posters allowed for quick and unlimited reproduction and quick execution on the spot, which made them one of the preferred techniques in street art till today. So early in its evolution, French street art already diverted from graffiti, and addressed some of the more universal political issues.



Daniel Buren - Affichages sauvages, 1970

Official Birth of Street Art

French art historians concur that street art in France, as we know it today, started in the expansive ruins of Les Halles, a green market in center demolished in 1971 to make room for a modern metro station and a shopping center. This is when artist Gérard Zlotykamien entered the wrecked site and painted silhouettes of reclining human figures, evoking the 1945 nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. He used spray paint. Simultaneously, there was another pioneer of the movement working in Paris. His name is Ernest Pignon-Ernest, a situationist and a member of Fluxus, whose wheat pastes tell an alternative modern history, infused with both politics and poetics, emotions and spirits of those in need of remembrance. At the beginning of the 70s, he pasted up silkscreen portraits of Arthur Rimbaud around the romantic poet’s favorite locales in Paris. Ernest Pignon-Ernest is still active today, continuously drawing attention to the margin, with his ethereal, excruciating spatial installations.



Gérard Zlotykamien