Blek Le Rat at his stencil in Berlin, Germany 2011 3. Unveiling the Mystery Behind His Nameīlek le Rat chose his name in reference to an Italian comic book character, “Blek le Roc,” and because “rat” is an anagram for “art.” This clever play on words has become synonymous with his iconic style. In 1981, he began stenciling the walls of Paris with small black rats, earning him the pseudonym “Blek le Rat.” Rats by Blek Le Rat in Paris, France 1983 2. He later studied architecture, learning about the creative possibilities of urban environments. Inspired by what he saw, he returned to France and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he studied etching, seriography, and lithography.

The Remarkable Story of Blek Le Rat’s Originsīlek le Rat, born Xavier Prou in 1952, first encountered graffiti during a trip to New York City in 1972. If we are to use graffiti in our final piece, stencilling could be something thats worth looking into and experimenting with.Rope Pulling by Blek Le Rat 1. These two artists are both examples of how stencilling can be used to achieve graffiti images in a quick and easy manner. The head of the image is almost identical, further showing the influence of Blek on Banksy’s style. The similarity in styles can be seen above, with the two figures showing the same use of contrast between the use of white and black to show the details of the image. Their themes are also very similar, with BLR also using social commentary as his drive, and also a want to make people address the issues of todays society, such as homelessness and the fight of the individual against large oppressive groups. On viewing some of BLR’s work, it is very easy to see the connection in style to that of Banksy’s, with the use of life size stencils and black and white paint. He has been accredited as the first street artists to use the life size stencil, and turning stencilling from basic letters to pictoral art. He wanted to create a new style which better suited the city and so set about developing his stencils. He developed his unique stencilling technique after visiting New York and seeing the style of graffiti there. He has said that he chose a rat because they are ‘the only free animal in the city’ and ‘spread the plague everywhere, just like street art’. He began his work in 1981, with his first stencils being of a rat, which is sprayed all over the city. Blek Le Rat (BLR) is a french graffiti artist from Paris.

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