Everything grows in Paris

Who said cities are not green friendly?! Not in Paris! Not only do we have trees, parks and gardens everywhere, but on top of that, when we miss a little green spot, we draw it! How clever is that? PS: sorry for the late posting, bad scheduling...

Art against poverty

If you don't speak French it's unlikely that you will be able to understand the play on words in this graffito: "Dans quel monde Vuitton?" sounds like "Dans quel monde vit-on ?  (In what kind of world do we live?). You can also see the Louis Vuitton monogram (LV) on the bucket in which the child is sitting. As you guessed the aim of this clever piece of art is to condemn poverty and the difference between the ones that can buy Vuitton suitcases and the ones that can't. Apparently this artist even belongs to a group called "Art against Poverty" (it's written in the vertical graffito). Beyond the political message, I thought the piece of art was pretty good.

Street art

I like the way street artists now glue paper on Paris walls instead of painting them with spray paint. It allows passers by to discover new artists without damaging the walls, nor costing money to tax payers (for the city has to clean these walls eventually, no matter what). I really love this one, shame that it's not signed. UPDATE: thanks to the help of a few good visitors ;-) I know now that this image was used for the cover of a record by FKA Twigs (London).

A very timely graffito

I found this "urban fresco" under a bridge on a pretty concealed street in the 13th arrondissement. It must be fairly new as the topic is evidently current... That's all I'll say about the subject.

Blue prints!

People must have thought I was crazy when they saw me taking a photo of this pretty ugly fence! Several things caught my eyes though: the little leaflets perfectly scattered, the electric blue facade in the background and the graffiti. All I needed to do was to wait for someone to go by... Cool, isn't it?

Rain remedy!

How cool is that? These are not actual graffiti , but collages that I found in the 19th arrondissement, along a staircase that goes to the Butte Chaumont. I did not know how to photograph the whole scene without having the rail of the staircase in the picture. Then I decided it could be a plus to have it... And I think it is.
Tomorrow the sun is back...

The breathing city...

I've found this stunning piece of street art in the rue des Recollets, near the Canal Saint Martin. It was made by Spanish artist  Dourone, who I did not know. The title of this work of art is "listen to the breathing city", which I thought, was appropriate to announce that, despite the weather, the 2014 PDP picnic will take place at the usual place, that is at the end of La rue de l'Amiral Coligny, on the Quais François Mitterrand. Metro station: Louvre Rivoli (See this little video if you're coming by metro, I made it in 2006, but the directions haven't changed). Don't forget to bring something to eat and drink! (More on Facebook).

Graffiti or painting?

Here is a garage door I spotted in rue Saint-Nicolas and I thought it was truly amazing ! Not that I particularly like the actual painting, but because it's a really elaborated street work, closer to a painting than a graffito. [Sorry for the late posting, I was so tired, I screwed up with the posting time!!]

Back to the Paris 13 tower

Do you remember my post about the Paris 13 tower? A building that was about to be destroyed and was turned into an art squat until the end of last year? Well I passed by it yesterday and it's still standing (it takes months if not years to do anything in a big city like Paris because of all the regulations we have), but it really looks like it's going to be taken down soon now. I so wish I could be there when they do it! In the meantime, have another look at the website they made, it's really good.

Street talent

Some street painters are really talented! Look at what I found at the end of the Pont d'Austerlitz. I think the  big brown cabinet shelters the electric wiring of traffic lights (there is a big crossing nearby with lots of traffic lights) and this painter - I think it's right to call him or her a painter!- used it beautifully. I thought it was a good way to start the week ;-) Update: thanks to a reader (Eugen Sitta), I now know who painted this: Christian Guémy aka C215.

Who painted that?

More and more graffiti artists don't paint directly on the walls, they first draw or paint on paper and glue it to the walls of Paris. Nothing gets damaged, they have plenty of time to finish their work and their piece of art is not lost when it's covered by another one, or cleaned par the Paris anti graffiti "police"! I know nothing about this artist, but I wish I did, for I really love this image. Have a great Sunday everyone, even if the weather goes crazy in some parts of the world!

Express yourself!

Where does this irrepressible need to write, draw or paint on walls come from? It's hard to tell, but it started a long time ago with the cavemen, who did marvelous things (remember the Grottes de Lascaux that  I already mentioned some time ago). And it starts early too judging from this photo that I took on the left bank where they installed a huge blackboard (the one I shot for my Joyeux Noël post) where everybody can "tag" with a chalk. Children have a blast!  

Groovy!

Yesterday, I had a follow up appointment at the doctor's who removed my gallbladder last month. Everything looks fine! On the way back, I passed by the rue du Louvre (the Paris street where you can find the only post office opened 24/7) and I came across this really cool graffiti! Cute, isn't? It put a wide smile on my face ;-) 

The irrepressible need for expressing yourself...

I'm often amazed to see how street artists manage to put their art up and high. In fact, for some of us, there seems to be this irrepressible need for expressing their mood and paint/stick it anywhere for everyone to see. After all, is it that different from what the first cavemen used to do. Take the famous Grottes de Lascaux, for instance, a stunning site that was discovered in the 40's (1940's) in which you can see paintings that were made about 18 000 years ago! Well, in 18 000 years, it's not unlikely that some people will talk about our mural paintings the same way... (This piece of art is by Konny, BTW!)

Royal graffiti

I love this graffito; like you may have recognized it, it shows Prince Charles and Princess Diana from England in a pretty disrespectful way; on Prince Charles it's written "un con" (a jerk) whereas on Lady Di it's only written "a princess"! The drawing is really cool, but I have no idea who made it.

Rising stars...

Look what I found in the 19th arrondissement : a whole street covered in cool graffiti (and they don't damage anything since they are just on a wall). But the reason why I stopped and took this photo is because of the pink stars that seem to crawl from the pavement to the sky... It's silly I know ;-))

Happy for you!

It's obviously not for the aesthetic of this scene that I posted this photo today, but because, when I passed at 48 boulevard du Temple yesterday, I could not help but have a second look at this graffito! Was someone that happy to just have had sex that he/she felt compelled to write it in big letters on the wall? Or was it more some wishful thinking?! I guess we'll never know... 

Stack overflow!

This may look like a fake or like a mockup, but I promise, it's a real building that I photographed along the embankment on the left bank. Like you probably already guessed this building is meant to be destroyed soon and a few people took advantage of this to paint it and turn it into a giant paint bucket! Funny as hell...

Cool!

There are days like this. I'm currently in Nice for the week and I'm trying my best to keep up with PDP while I'm gone. But... the electricity in the room I rented just went off, therefore I have no wi-fi and I have tried all possible networks around me to connect, nothing works! Last, I tried what they call "tethering" with my phone and it seems to work. Only it's very very slow... SO I hope you'll this photo on time. I took it near the rue d'Eupatoria in the 20th. cool isn't it?!

Beauty of decay

Today's theme day within the City Daily Photo community is "The beauty of decay". I must say that I really did not know what to post! I thought of digging something into my street garbage cans(!), but I quickly gave up! Instead I chose this shot that I took a few months ago that shows a "decaying" building somewhere in Paris. Whenever this happens graffiti artists take advantage of this "open air canvas" to turn it into a fancy (well sort of...) painting. So here you go... (I know it's a little far fetched!). Check other "decaying scenes" throughout the world!