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 symbolised both freedom and the dissemination of art through the city as if it were the plague. He started stencilling 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 colourful 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), recognised as the pioneer of Paris street art, has been painting committed pieces in the streets since the early eighties.
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