BLEK LE RAT

Blek le Rat (pseudonym of Xavier Prou, inspired by the comic strip character Blek le roc) was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "father of stencil".

He is recognized internationally (Banksy is one of his admirers who acknowledges his influence) as one of the pioneers of street art.

He began painting in 1981, first with a friend under the collective name Blek, then on his own. In 1992, he received a heavy fine from the criminal court for "damaging the property of others". From then on, he no longer painted directly on walls, but on posters which he then pasted up. From the 1980s onwards, his work was exhibited at the Loft gallery, rue des Beaux-Art in Paris1 and the "Jean Paul Christophe" gallery, Avenue Matignon in Paris, then at the Sanguine gallery.

Throughout the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, he continued to work on city walls around the world. Between 1993 and 2001, he stopped exhibiting in galleries, until 2002, when he showed his work in a Berlin gallery, Galerie Jurgen Grosse.

He often draws his inspiration from everyday, urban characters, whose images he then reproduces in the setting in which he works.

Today, his work influences thousands of urban artists worldwide, and it's no surprise to find artists in London, New York and Tokyo who claim to belong to his school. Among them, the English artist Banksy: "Every time I paint something, I discover that Blek the rat has already done it just 20 years before!