Issue #86

Street Art, yesterday, here and tomorrow

Edito #86 | December – January 202-

As the year draws to a close, let us reopen the debate on the ephemeral nature of Street Art. For most people,Street Art is inherently transient: it lives, fades, becomes covered, and vanishes. It disappears through urban redevelopment, the passing of time, bad weather, or simply the fragility and impermanence of the techniques used.
For others, graffiti, and Street Art more broadly, deserves to be preserved. The resurrection of the Mausolée, the underground temple of Parisian graffiti brought back to life by Lek & Sowat, stands as its most powerful symbol. The memory, preservation, and transmission of artistic value is dependent on the lens of photographers, those who capture the essence of the work, sublimate and broadcast it, or simply make it visible. Without photography, Philippe Echaroux’s work, in the Tempi project for instance, would exist only as a fleeting moment. Without photography, murals, tags, and temporary installations such as Le Garage Éphémère would never withstand the passing of time, and much of their history would likely fade into oblivion.
In its pursuit of realism, the figurative movement within Street Art naturally converges toward photography, driven by a common desire to represent the world, and especially women, in forms that are either hyperrealistic or idealised.
In this vein, Fin DAC’s geishas exalt womanhood: strong, independent, and seductive all at once. Meanwhile, Iota translates human abstraction, while Shok-1 depicts the unseen interior of the body through his X-ray aesthetics. At the crossroads of figuration and abstraction, Mambo paints the energy of bodies and the world. Finally, closer to the roots of graffiti, RIOT 1394 draws on the techniques and codes of lettering to build a personal universe infused with comic book culture.
Come see us at our booth during District 13 Art Fair at Drouot (Paris, FR), from 15 to 18 January.

Here’s to 2026 and a very Street Art year ahead!