Blek le Rat spoke to Lee Sharrock for FAD Magazine on the eve of his solo exhibition ‘War and Peace’ opening at Woodbury House in London. The exhibition is named after Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel ‘War & Peace’ and features more than 50 new paintings and prints.
Blek has been spotted in Soho and Mayfair creating new stencil art. See if you can spot the Blek le Rat artworks at locations including Grind on Kingly Street, The Devonshire Arms on Denman Street and The Kettle Kids, Maddox Street in Mayfair.
Lee Sharrock: The title of your exhibition feels particularly poignant at a moment when various conflicts are happening around the world. Some pieces in the Woodbury House exhibition were influenced by your childhood experiences in post-War France, and stories your Father told you about his experiences of combat. How did you reflect these narratives and childhood experiences in your art, and why do you think humanity never seems to learn from its mistakes?
Blek le Rat: Actually, I don’t remember my Father talking about atrocities. I remember many dinners or lunches with the family, including my Uncles, Cousins, Aunts, Father and grandfather, where they were talking about their own war. Like my Grandfather fought in World War I, and my Father was in World War II, and he was a prisoner of war in Germany for five years. So, they never talked about the atrocities that they saw, because maybe they didn’t want to scare us. So, what I was feeling at that time was a mix of fascination, listening to my family talking about war and how they suffered. While on the other side, my feeling was, I was really fascinated by the conversations. So, I tried with this exhibition (at Woodbury House) to convey these two conflicting feelings of fascination, and at the same time total rejection of War and conflict between countries and people.
So, it was a kind of fascination and rejection at the same time, listening to my people talking about the wars and conflicts. For example, a fascination for uniform, and a fascination for people who were fighting in the wars and what they had to go through on the front line, what fear they must have felt.
It’s a vicious cycle, an eternal repeating of war, we finish a war, and we start a new war a few years after. It’s like that since the beginning of the time. I really think that the only way to stop war, is when woman are in power. It’s a question of aggression. Men are naturally aggressive, but if women were in power, they wouldn’t want their own children to go to war. When women are in power. No more war.
50 new paintings and prints will be exhibited in war and peace that explore humanity’s relationship with conflict can you give an overview of how the exhibition was curated and what visitors can expect?
So, it was a long process, beginning last October (2023) when we decided to have a show with Steven and Joseph at Woodbury House. I started to paint the helicopter, and after that it was a long evolution for six months where I was really involved month after month in my work, and I was living with my works around me in my studio. For example, I started with helicopter, but I left it for two or three months and worked on it again three months later. So, it was a long process. I tried to keep unity in my wish to give the feeling to the other people, of the fear and the fascination I had for conflict and war, and my compassion for the soldiers and for the army. I wanted to express these feelings to people through my exhibition.
You’ve been referred to as the ‘Father of Stencil Graffiti’ and the ‘French Banksy’. How do you feel about these labels?
I’m really happy to be the ‘Father of Stencil Graffiti’, and I feel it’s an honour to be described as the ‘French Banksy’, because I really respect him. He’s a very important artist all over the world, and he knew how to push this movement of Street Art at a level I never would have imagined.
You mentioned also that you’re proud of your 40 years of work being recognised as the start of an artistic movement?
Yes, I’m really proud of starting a global movement.
You’re undoubtedly the best known Graffiti artist to come out of France. How do you feel the graffiti art movement varies from city to city?
I think the statement graffiti artists all over the world are the about the same thing: they declare that they are in some part against society. They declare that they suffer from society. I think the statement is the same everywhere. The techniques vary sometimes from country to country. For example, you have the American school with tags, and the European school, which is more inclined to working with stencils or trying to have a different process of techniques, like Space Invader, who makes mosaics and puts them on the wall of the city. Or Mark Jenkins who makes sculpture with tape and puts them on the street. So, there are different techniques that Street artists use all over the world, but I think that their statements are the same. They are all making a statement about society to the people.
As well as creating new work for the exhibition, you’ve been putting up some stencil art around Soho and Mayfair. Where can people look out for your new artworks?
Look out for my new stencil art at Grind on Kingly Court, the Devonshire arms on Denman St, Kettle Kids on Maddox St, and Onward Display in Soho.
The artworks exhibited at Woodbury House are influenced by centuries of conflict dating back to the Middle Ages and feature a Persian warrior on horseback from the stallion of sacrifice series that you saw on a visit to the Museum of Islamic art in Doha. Can you give a bit of an insight into highlights of the exhibition and what influences drew you in?
I wanted to transmit to people the aspect of fear that of this Persian Warrior through my art. It’s exactly the kind of image I love to put on the streets you know, because the impact of the image is really strong. I haven’t put it on the street yet, but I’m planning to put is somewhere in the world and watch the impact that he has on the public.
Blek le Rat ‘War and Peace’ – 31st July, 2024. Woodbury House
