Let’s follow Banksy, Futura2000!! The second District Art Fair was held at the end of September in Paris, one of the world’s urban art centers. Urban art has become one of the mainstreams of contemporary art, so the fair was full of many rich, young European contemporary art collectors and the works were selling well.
The venue is Drouot, a historic auction house in the heart of Paris. Many young artists based in Europe display street art, graffiti and stencil works.
MAYE, from South France, used to work as a mason. This is one of the highlights of this art fair. He showed up at the venue on the first day and was showing drawings in front of art fans.
MAYE keeps on drawing dreamy worlds on walls and canvas. His painting is very unique, basically streamlined and partially mechanical. The title of this work is A Big Step. MAYE says, “Between dream and reality there is only just one step! So the title of this work is A Big Step.”
Slender people float in the air, with scattering mechanical parts and natural objects such as butterflies and leafs in the background. Nature grows even in an artificial distopian environment. This work is filled with hope and full of poetry.
This graffiti work by NASTY from South France captures the time of the graffiti movement in the 1990s. He drew on subway cars with spray cans. He does not belong to powerful art organizations and continues to keep an anti-power attitude. The dynamic feeling and energy are obvious, even on ceramics.
These works also include lively social satire. There were also warm style urban artists such as Millo, from Italy, who expresses family love. Millo drew murals all over the world including in Rome and Shanghai.
The woman in this work is Millo’s mother. This is Millo’s childhood dream. His mother made delicious meals for him, mother really loved him. Actually, Millo’s mother is now unwell, so he drew her. All the women in his work are his wife, but this is the exception.
Such a happy and positive style is popular among the wealthy people in the world, especially in Asia.
New on the scene is Our Lady by Afarin Sajedi from Iran. She expresses the problem of contemporary society that requires self-sacrifice like Our Lady to a woman who has a child. Sajedi’s painting is based on Renaissance art with a modern color scheme, and expresses the strength of women from her perspective.
There were some mural graffitis by the artists introduced at this art fair in the 13th district. In recent years, a new metro network has been constructed in this downtown area and it is rapidly developing. There were also galleries dealing with urban art.
The urban art of Paris is hot! The graffiti of the subway cars was more exciting than New York, and for me, it was so exciting to visit Paris this time for this coverage. I really heard the heartbeat of young artists based in Europe.
