Issue #66

Street Art stays on course

EDITO #66 | October-November 2022

We are all looking for bearings, especially in a time of new and destabilising paradigm shifts in the political, economic and energy sectors.

In this eternal quest, street artists are revisiting the symbols and rites of the main monotheistic religions and confronting the sacred with the secular. This issue will explore the complex relationships between beliefs, artistic inspirations, and their translation into the urban space.

Our quest will take us to the hot spots of Lille, the Nord star of French Street Art. Its mix of industrial heritage, middle-class culture and proactive institutions have turned Lille into a fertile creative ground, welcoming artists with unique styles.

Street artists have always loved industrial wastelands, those abandoned places full of history, synonymous with creative freedom and big empty walls… The former workshops and warehouses of the Babcock & Wilcox factories in the north of Paris have been transformed into a veritable artistic hub, becoming yet another place of creative renewal. In Marseille, la Friche Belle de Mai is following the same path.

The creativity of street artists can also help us find our way. In this issue, we explore Hendrik Beikirch’s dark human figures with their singular expressivity, Takeru Amano’s colourful poetry and unique vision of women, as well as Amandine Urruty’s phantasmagorical universe. The very recognisable styles of Buff Monster with his Melty characters and Nebay’s colourful compositions complete this panoramic view.

Street Art: a creative compass.