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In 1991, Blek le Rat was arrested for painting in the street. The use of stencils allows him the opportunity for endless reproduction. Throughout the 1980s, Blek’s art developed from small pieces into life-size characters like the representation of famous Andy Warhol, Tom Waits, Jesus Christ, and a portrait of Blek le Rat himself. He chose the pseudonym Blek le Rat in reference to an Italian comic book Blek le Roc, using rat as an anagram for art. He described the rat as “the only free animal in the city”, and one which “spreads the plague everywhere, just like street art”. To him, the rat symbolized both freedom and the dissemination of art through the city as if it were the plague.

He started stenciling the walls of Paris in 1981 – when street painting had not yet become associated with criminal activity – spray-painting small black rats running along the walls of the fourteenth Arrondissement. When he came back to France with colorful graffiti images in mind, Blek enrolled at Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris. When Blek le Rat visited New York in 1972 this was the very first time he had ever seen graffiti in his life. He is often described as “the father of stencil graffiti.” About Blek le Rat (born Xavier Prou in 1952, Paris), recognized as the pioneer of Paris street art, has been painting committed pieces in the streets since the early eighties.

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