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images
by blek le rat
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| commentary
by brentley frazer |
| published
20 august 2007 |
| originally
published by retort
magazine |
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portrait
of the artist | volume 1 •
number 4
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"Truth
and reality in art do not arise until you no longer understand
what you are doing and are capable of, but, nevertheless,
sense a power that grows in proportion to your resistance."
-Henri
Matisse
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since April 2007 | Portrait of the Artist showcases the work
of compelling contemporary visualists. |
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Blek
le Rat is one of the inventors of Street Art and modern Stencil
Art, and has been developing his art since the early eighties.
In a trip to New York City, in 1971, Blek saw graffiti 'writing'
for the first time, and it left a lasting impression, which inspired
him to create his own style. It was only a decade later that Blek
discovered stenciling and set out on his path. He cut a stencil
of a rat silhouette and sprayed it everywhere in Paris, for over
a year—at a time when no one was making street art apart
from political graffiti. Blek revolutionized the meaning of the
street stencil from 'Political' to 'Art'.
Street art has evolved, and every major stencil artist, today—including,
most famously, Banksy—has been influenced by Blek's unique
style. Bansky has said: "Every time I think I've painted
something slightly original, I find out that Blek le Rat has done
it as well, only twenty years earlier..." -Die Gestalten
Verlag
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| Brentley
Frazer
(eMail •
Web site
• MySpace
page) is an artist who lives in Melbourne,
Australia.
His literary work has appeared in a slew of reputable periodicals,
journals, and anthologies. Brentley’s first major collection
of poems and microtexts, A
Dark Samadhi (PC Press), was released to wide critical
plaudits in early 2003. His paintings have been exhibited
in several group and solo exhibitions since 1995. |
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2001, the multifaceted Aussie, while still a resident of
Brisbane,
founded Retort
Magazine, an electronic journal dedicated to the
publication and presentation of new, innovative and experimental
art and text. Retort features both fiction and non-fiction
on a semi-regular itinerary and has published some of the
world's best known artists and writers as well as having
continued to offer a platform for emerging writers and artists. |
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| Brentley
also writes freelance for several online and print publications.
His interviews/reviews of artists and writers have been
published by Pixel
Surgeon Magazine, Antipoda
Magazine, and Cordite
Magazine, among others. |
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| Release
Date: September 2006 |
| Format:
13.5 x 18.5 cm |
| Product
Details: DVD/PAL |
| 16:9
Widescreen |
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Language:
English
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| Price:
£ 15.00/$30.35 |
| ISBN-13:
9783899551129 |
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If
only Blek le Rat (original
Web site; current
Web site) had been able to engineer immense notoriety by working
for a major newspaper, and/or had the foresight to organize a worldwide
syndicate of graffiti artists, then he would be enjoying the wealth
and fame of his most successful imitator, Banksy. Blek le Rat is the
godfather of stencil art whose images of rats first started appearing,
in Paris, in 1981. In 1983, his first life-size stencil of an old Irish
man yelling against English soldiers, in Belfast, arrested the gaze
of thousands with its visual impact. His images, over the past 26 years,
have been among my favorite.
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Views expressed
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of patsymooreDOTcom, respective authors, or original sources.
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