PARIS — Paris is getting a colorful touch of Olympic creative spirit with almost 30 vibrant street artworks that have popped up on the busy walls of metro stations, a large billboard at the airport and in front of City Hall.
One shows a drawing of the French fencer Ysaora Thibus in action. Another features canoeists paddling the River Seine. Other examples are people having fun in a busy neighborhood. The original art was distributed throughout Paris and other nearby host cities around the Olympic and Paralympic venues.
“During the Olympics there is a lot of energy and people come from all over the world,” says JonOne, a New York native who has lived in Paris for the past 30 years and is recognized in the street art world as a graffiti artwork. pioneer. He is one of six renowned street artists from four continents whose work can currently be seen on train stations, airports, taxis, digital screens and billboards.
The artists were selected through a campaign led by Visa to help support small businesses. They come from France (Marko 93 and Olivia De Bona), Brazil (Alex Senna), Australia (Vexta) and the United States (Swoon).
“Why not use street art?” said JonOne, 60, whose artwork can be found in several places in Paris, including the Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre station. It took two months for five employees to complete the blue, white and red graffiti in abstract expressionist style, which covers 250 square meters of the wall at the busy station.
“It projects a lot of energy and youth culture,” he said. “It’s a good time to show our artwork.”
The campaign was designed as an open-air exhibition curated by Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, an expert in urban art. The 28 original works of art will remain on display until September 8.
“Just like high-level athletes, artists share values such as tolerance, openness, questioning and surpassing themselves,” says Lasserre, who has organized more than fifty exhibitions with public and private institutions, including an exhibition at Paris City Hall. “Associating art and sport is one of the cornerstones of Olympism.”
Each creation highlights the spirit of the neighborhoods – such as Saint-Denis, Montmartre and Rue Montorgueil – and captures the vibrancy of cafés, bookstores and shops that have become an essential part of Paris and the wider Ile-de-France region. They can also be found at Lille, Lyon and Marseille airports, where some Olympic events take place.
“We asked the artists to show us their version of Paris in the most authentic way,” said Juan Arturo Herrera, business administrator and marketing manager at Visa International. Last month he carried the Olympic flame over a 200-meter course in eastern France.
“Street art is the most accessible art,” he said. “It’s universal. We’ve been seeing it in cities for decades. It has made its way through museums and we wanted to bring it out again. We see this as the largest exhibition of outdoor art in public space.”
A Parisian, De Bona takes pride in bringing her artwork to her hometown, family and visitors from all over the world.
“It was so moving,” she said. “I see how art makes my city so beautiful. It is a privilege to represent France in front of all these people who come to Paris from all over the world.”
De Bona, 39, recalled a time when street art and graffiti were not widely accepted by the masses. But now she has witnessed a positive shift in perception and within the industry, which was once male-dominated.
“People need pictures on the street,” she said. “It should welcome the art. We are the bridge between people who think it does not fit in the museum. We bring art to the people. This is our way of expressing ourselves and existing.”
Marko 93 said his passion for street art drove him to push through the words of skeptics. At a young age, he was intrigued by watching the evolution of graffiti during the hip-hop era of the 1980s in New York, which he called graffiti’s “promised land.”
“It’s all about perseverance,” the 51-year-old said during his live performance, as he painted a fencer along the Seine. “Art is also about perseverance. This passion drives us to move forward and go beyond our limits.”
One day, JonOne would like to see art reintroduced as a competition in the Olympic Games.
Art competitions first came to fruition at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, with medals awarded in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. The International Olympic Committee ended the competitions at the 1948 Games and an attempt to bring them back was rejected four years later.
“Artists are athletes too,” JonOne said. “I respect athletes in basketball and runners. Art is not really a sport, but it should be part of the Olympic Games. Just surviving as an artist is an Olympic sport.”
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Summer Olympics AP: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
