Do the French love graffiti? Are they artists or are they just vandals in disguise? As we sped along the autoroute on our way home from Switzerland, I started to notice that nearly every wall, agricultural building or abandoned farmhouse was covered with graffiti… There didn’t seem to be a message or great artistic value to the work… but rather a feeling that a blank wall must be filled. Quelle horreur to let the countryside slumber in peace… It was as if we were on the outskirts of Paris not in the languid reaches of Provence. Don’t misunderstand… I love a well executed wall of graffiti and admire it as much as any work of art but gratuitous graffiti… I just don’t get it. Graffiti, according to Wikipedia, is writings or drawings painted, scratched or drawn illicitly on a wall. It has been around since ancient times and there are examples dating back to the Ancient Greeks and Romans… Now I understand… As Provence has Greek and Roman beginnings… it must be genetic!
The trompe l’oeil, the first image, is one of several painted illusions on a wall near to the Palais des Papes in Avignon… I do like this because the image is clever and matches the atmosphere of it’s location. Would it be classified as graffiti?…If it were painted without authorisation, then I guess it would be…
The ‘dancing girl’ lives on a garage door in Arles opposite the Roman amphitheatre… I like her… The contrast between the old world and our modern world is never more obvious…
And the third image… ‘Sorry for your wall’… is our little house in the historic centre of St Remy de Provence. Mr FF found this little jewel box last year and we have great plans for it… More about that when we have the alterations approved by the local council… but fingers crossed, our renovations can commence early this year. Am I upset that someone has taken a spray gun to our walls… Not as yet, because work hasn’t started and the walls will have to be re-painted in any case. I like to think that the ‘artist’ has some empathy and understood that the house is in transition… I may be less generous with my thoughts if it happens on a regular basis. At least they apologised…
If you have a taste for graffiti then you must check out this and for wonderful examples of trompe l’oeil I recommend this… and for how to… this… (European readers can find these books here and here )
Art, always a matter of opinion… Do you love a splash of graffiti? xv
images- vicki archer
