Tuesday 4 August 2009

Free Walk Three: Street Art

My third free walking tour download is based around a tricky subject and one that leaves nobody indifferent. Street art by definition is often temporary, so how could I make geographical links between these ephemeral creations? I decided to focus on just one part of the city; the streets around Menilmontant and Belleville. This part of the city is so rich in creations that even within such a small area I could easily have drawn several other routes, but I selected what I believe to be the most varied sector.

I also tried to include the widest range of creations possible, including stencils, sculptures, wall paintings and graffiti. Some items were commissioned and are permanent, whilst others can be considered illegal and are by definition extremely temporary. Others are by artists that have become so well-known that the city authorities would now not dare to remove them.

Paris is home to some of the most important and influential artists working in the genre, but not all have worked in this part of the city. Because of this I have created a Who’s Who of Paris Street Art section at the end of this document with tips on where to see the artists who are not featured as well as links to their websites.


Download the walk here.. Once again, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any problems downloading the walk, or if you have any comments or suggestions.

9 comments:

Slowmoves said...

Hi, cool post! Just looking at what could do next time I go through Parise, building on my light knowledge as on: http://slowmovesblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-day-in-paris-favorite-places.html. Grateful for any recommendations!

Nelson said...

What a great guide! Wish I had this when I first was learning about Paris street art. I stumbled into The Forge by accident a few years ago and was astonished at how beautiful the street art was. In your photo of The Forge the things that look like Arabic calligray are from l'Atlas, I really like his work.

Your readers might also be interested in the Flickr StreetArt-Paris group, there's a lot of pictures placed on a map of Paris for you to explore.

Thérèse said...

What else can I say: excellent!

Cergie said...

"Il faut se méfier des mots" : tu as trouvé le bon moment et juste un rai de soleil pour photographier ce message.
Ton quartier peut se visiter dans tous les sens, à tout moment, il est toujours aussi attrayant. Et on y trouve pleins de repères même s'ils changent parfois, on ne peut pas s'y perdre. On s'y sent comme chez soi....

Owen said...

Adam, you surpass yourself ! This is fantastic... I downloaded the Paris Walk, no problem, works fine. You've got me itching to get back into Paris. I did my first photo of one of Jerome Mesnager's pieces in 1986... if you click on the label with his name in my sidebar you can see that one and a few others, if you haven't already... Anyway, what a phenomenal job you do compiling all this excellent information for us all !!!

margaret said...

What a captivating virtual outing! Chapeau! Thank you Adam for coming up with this and putting it together for us to enjoy. I look forward to taking this walk in person. I also really like the artist guide at the end of the piece. BTW, I downloaded without a hitch.

Starman said...

I'm always impressed by the talent and creativity of these artists, but I also wonder why they choose to pursue this method of displaying their art. I also wonder how many not-so-talented "artists" are inspired to add their "art".

Nathalie H.D. said...

Sorry for being so invisible over the past weeks, I've been on short holidays on and off and devoting the rest of my time to work and catching with the Festival d'Avignon. Not much time left for exploring other parts of the world.

I followed the link and had a good look at your third Paris walk. I'm most impressed by the work you do, it's great!

I will make sure I recommend your series of walks to anyone visiting Paris.

Unknown said...

Really nice walk in a lively up and coming neighbourhood! There is lots to see! you can find our gps-track and pictures on Everytrail:
http://www.everytrail.com/fullscreen.php?trip_id=1966652&code=1fa67b5ca5f90d4e4780c5bdec2f3f22
We walked on a bit further to the appartment we were staying. Thanks for the great walk! Greetings from the Netherlands.

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