press release exhibition

street art at the museum Museum of Fine Arts

06.04 – 03.11 2019 calais

Does Street Art fall under the umbrella of contemporary art, or is it a completely separate phenomenon? Difficult to classify from its beginnings, Street Art has in any event established an important position in the recent history of artistic creativity.

Now, this artistic movement has been brought within the walls of the The artists museum. An event that might seem perfectly natural for some, surprising or even shocking for others, and which above all represents a true victory. Even very recently, the street interventions of taggers and graffiti artists Alëxone / Anders Gjennestad were regarded as vandalism and the relationship between the authorities Astro / Aurel Rubbish and these « writers » could be likened to a game of cat-and-mouse. Today, Bando / Banksy / Blek le Rat towns and cities in large number commission these very artists to create Bordalo II / C215 monumental frescoes. CONQUÊTE URBAINE (Urban Conquest) testifies Cleon Peterson / Clet to this process of evolution from an illicit and anti-establishment art form Conor Harrington / Cope2 to a practice that is not only accepted but even sought out by public actors. Cornbread / Crash This exhibition also reaffirms the openness of the Calais Museum of Fine Dondi White / Dran / El Seed Arts to multiple art forms, with exhibitions that are accessible to the uninitiated. Ernest Pignon-Ernest Faith 47 / Fenx Street Art has its roots in the art of muralism. Be it Mexico in the post-1910 Fintan Magee / Futura 2000 Revolution era or, in the same period, Russia with its Soviet propaganda, Gérard Zlotykamien / Hera this art has been present in towns and cities for over a century. Yet it was Herakut / Honet / Icy & Sot not until the 1960s that a true artistic approach was born, first in the United Invader / Isaac Cordal / Jace States and later in Europe, making the urban space its own. This wave Jacques Villeglé went on to crash over the entire planet. Jean Faucheur / Jef Aérosol Jérôme Mesnager / JonOne Through more than sixty works - some of which are exceptional loans, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada creations by cutting-edge artists from the 1960s up to the present day - JR / Katre / Keith Haring the CONQUÊTE URBAINE exhibition proposes to revisit the origins and Levalet / MadC evolution of urban art. Structured into four sequences, the visitor path Mademoiselle Maurice unveils the fundamental characteristics of a phenomenon that is actually Mark Jenkins / Miss Tic in perpetual motion: the laws of the street; urban writings; a popular art; Miss Van / Mode2 a rebellious art. As an introduction to the exhibition, two monumental Os Gemeos / Phase 2 works will be created in situ by the artists Alëxone and Romain Froquet. Rammellzee / Rero / Roa Romain Froquet / Seen The exhibition is curated by Mathilde and Gautier Jourdain, founders Shepard Fairey of the Galerie Mathgoth, an urban art gallery in the 13th arrondissement Speedy Graphito of Paris, and by the Calais Museum of Fine Arts. Sten & Lex / Taki183 Vermibus / Vhils / Zevs An exhibition catalogue is set to be published by Éditions Liénart. With the collaboration of Stéphanie Lemoine and Chrixcel for the catalogue and the exhibition texts. Illustration: Alëxone Musée des beaux-arts (Museum of Fine Arts) 25 rue Richelieu - 62100 Calais + 33 (0)3 21 46 48 40 [email protected] calais.fr

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Astro Pyramidal - Backlit lenticular print - 100x100x8cm – 2018 Access for persons with reduced mobility — The museum is open daily from 1 pm to 6 pm (5 pm from November to March), except for Mondays and public holidays — Open for groups from 9 am, subject to booking — Individual prices: € 4 / € 3 — Free parking in the vicinity/ behind the museum

Press contact Agence Observatoire 68 rue Pernety - 75014 Paris Cope2 Redeem - Aerosol, acrylic and ink on canvas - 115x140cm - 2016 / Private collection – Paris Aurélie Cadot: [email protected] + 33 (0)6 80 61 04 17 observatoire.fr

Graphic design: composite-agence.fr

Jace Le Trépas est servi - Aerosol and acrylic on rusted metal Jef Aérosol Casablanca - Stencil and aerosol on wood fence 2018 - 100x75cm / Galerie Mathgoth – Paris 2014 - 72x102cm / JLP collection – Paris