The first thing I noticed when we got off our train stop to go to Street Art Avenue was that we were definitely no longer in Paris. The area had an industrial and rough feel to it. It definitely felt like the last place a group of UChicago students would be. I am not afraid to admit that I was skeptical about what we were going to encounter, but was excited to experience something I know I would never discover on my own.

As we turned the corner, we met our tour guide. A nice man named Pierre, his graffiti name being Meuh, introduced himself. He was upbeat and obviously very passionate about what he was going to show to us. As we walked down the canal, we jumped right into the tour.

Environment

The area we walked through before getting to Street Art Avenue was very gray and there were very little people on the streets. Some buildings were obviously neglected and had minimal upkeep. When we arrived at the canal, there were some structures nearby that had been obviously constructed recently, such as some bridges and newer buildings, all signs of the slow gentrification of the area.

Something I noticed throughout the tour was that Pierre did not once mention the name “Street Art Avenue”. I didn’t end up asking him about it, but I found it interesting that he either didn’t know about the name, or didn’t want to present it as such. He explained that the street art was legal on the canal, but also explained that there was a complicated relationship with it. It seemed that some viewed that the art added to the area while others believed the opposite. It was a great opportunity for graffiti and street art artists to have a safe place to display their work, but it was still criticized by both local residents and other graffiti artists. Some artists felt it was unfair that only a select few could have their work on display safely. Overall though, it felt that Street Art Avenue was an overall positive, and Pierre seemed happy while we strolled down the canal. I personally really appreciated the opportunity to see all kinds of art collectively together in one place.

This kind of gallery of art was very different than any gallery we had attended before. Here, the art felt more personal and easier to connect with, simply because of the lack of physical barriers that would be found in a normal gallery, whether that be glass frames or roped off paintings. You could touch any art you wanted to here (and maybe even add to it if you really wanted to). The art felt more accessible, and more like it was for the people rather than art collectors or critics.

Culture

We first came across a collaboration of work between two artists who I am unfortunately forgetting. Pierre began discussing the culture that surrounded graffiti and tagging which amazed me with its complexity. He explained that there were sometimes disagreements between those who were graffiti artists and those who were street artists. Often time street art is more welcome than graffiti art, despite the fact that street art could not exist without graffiti becoming popular first. Additionally, there were some unspoken rules and trends in graffiti such as:

1. Don’t cover someone else’s work partially, if you do, that’s essentially a “f*ck you” to the original artists. If you’re gonna cover an art work, cover it completely. This can sometimes lead to physical altercations, although Pierre explained that the second part is actually quite rare, it usually might just lead to some verbal disputes.
2. Leave art up contributed to those who pass away, for at least a few months.
3. If an artists often does works next to another, or puts a heart next to or around another name, that’s most likely their significant other!

I was fascinated with how deep the graffiti community was interconnected. As we passed artworks, Pierre explained that he actually knew quite a lot of artists whose work and tags we were passing. He explained how groups of artists are formed, and sometimes can originate from gangs, but also often are simply artists who want to get together to support one another. Pierre did a great job of breaking down many barriers and assumptions that came with the type of art we were viewing.

Pierre also made a note about more females participating within graffiti art, a welcome change. However a few classmates pointed out some comments that he made that I hadn’t noticed. He only critiqued artists who were female, saying that they had “better work” or were breaking some of the rules graffiti art. Whether or not it was intentional, it was clear that for most female graffiti artists, it was still an uphill battle when it came to being recognized for their work. I’m sure Pierre only had good intentions and didn’t realize his own biases, but it was still something I found intriguing and important to point out.

We also got to talking about the politics that are sometimes involved in graffiti art. Pierre informed us that most times many artists don’t want to write a message with their art, just simply their name and staying out of politics, but he made a good point in that simply by doing graffiti art they were already making a statement. Breaking the rules in order to write their names was a way to rebel in itself.

Art

Now to the good stuff. Street Art Avenue is obviously covered in so many different types of art. There was wide range of art styles and medias, creating a diverse and well-rounded art experience. Pierre began by telling us the difference between graffiti and tags.

Tags are mostly words that are done quickly, maybe within 10 minutes or so. They are often

simple and single-lined, with the words done in style so they’re not easily read. Although they are simple, they still have their purpose of letting artists leave their mark. I have to admit they were the type of graffiti I was least interested in, but ever since our tour I have found myself taking note of tags more often whenever I see them, trying to see if I recognize the tag.

Graffiti art are words that are designed in a specific art style, sometimes calligraphy or other times mono-type. Each letter has “extensions” which are exactly what they sound like. They are added to make the words a little harder to make out, but also added for artistic value. It was so interesting to see the old art of calligraphy and decorating letters being used in this contemporary art style.

Finally, my personal favorite was the Street Art/murals. They had the most diversity in their message, style, and symbolism. I really enjoyed how many different possibilities there were when it came to the art. My favorites included works by Dawal, which I presented on. His art was so clean and had unique mechanics. My other favorite was an Egyption-inspired work that represented what it was like to be part of the graffiti world.

Overall, I really enjoyed how much I learned and saw at Street Art Avenue. I never would have found it on my own, and was glad I got to see part of the art world that is often overlooked, forgotten, and over-criticized.