BLEK LE RAT

Xavier " BLEK LE RAT " Prou was born in Paris in 1951. After graduating high school, in 1971, he studies at the Beaux Arts and, during a summer trip, discovers graffiti in New York. In those days, ZLOTYKAMIEN is the only one to act out in Paris, and Prou starts with no conscience whatsoever of graffiti techniques. Finding spray paint is not easy, those for sale are intended for car paint professional, and his first attempts are disappointing: stone walls and bricks absorb the paint. The results are so far below his expectations that he decides to switch gear and to give stencil a try. Though BLEK clearly is the inventor of modern stencil, he admits humbly that "you don’t ever invent anything, but you can do things your own way". Among his early motives, there is the small rat figure, in reference to the rat infested streets of Paris, the animals interfering constantly with his work is makes stencils of small rats, reference to the rats which infest then the city of Paris, finding their way everywhere. Hence his artist name. In 1999, BLEK receives a phone call from writer Tristan Manco, who’s busy working on his book, Stencil Graffiti, and wants to meet him. Manco tells him about the massive stencillist movement that has developed in the UK, more specifically in Bristol. More importantly, he mentions that an anonymous artist, working under the name BANKSY, is becoming increasingly famous and is giving him full credits for his inspiration. This tribute gives a fresh start to BLEK LE RAT's career and, today, the world honors the pioneer he was in stencil, which is an indisputable chapter of contemporary Street Art. BLEK LE RAT's path has taken him around the world and back. His work is shown from Paris to Tokyo and from New York to Los Angeles. He’s invited to do urban performances in Morocco, for example, or in Germany, where his wife was born. Throughout the years, he’s created poetic and political stencils, which have traveled with him, allowing his style and name to spread across cities. BLEK is invited to Naples in Italy, to Leipzig in Germany, to Barcelona in Spain. He has shows in Morocco, England, Argentina, and Taipei, China, welcomes his exhibit in 2005. His book, published in 2008, is a major success, selling hundreds of thousand copies.