Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Invisible Man . . .

When the Nouvel Observateur news magazine came this week I was flipping through it when a piece about one of my favorite artists, Jerome Mesnager, caught my eye. He is currently part of a three man show at the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin in Paris, along with two other artists, Nemo and Mosko. Jerome Mesnager has done a series of "White Man" (homme blanc) graffiti paintings all over the world in the past twenty years or more, many of which are in Paris, and some, like those shown below, that I photographed in various places.
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By coincidence, this evening, just a day after seeing the article in the Nouvel Obs, I stumbled on a post on Adam's Invisible Paris blog about this same exhibition. If you are not familiar with it already, Adam's Invisible Paris is a fabulous place to browse if you love Paris, as I know many of you out there do . . . well, I guess that begs the question : Who doesn't love Paris ? ? ? So by all means take a look at his blog, he does thorough research on the Paris-sites he presents, yet manages to make it all easy and compelling reading. . . yes indeed, that is one fine blog about Paris there. (No, he is not paying me anything to write this !)
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So here is one of Jerome Mesnager's works, photo circa 1993 . . .
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Yes indeed, I recommend you run on over to Invisible Paris, and then on into the visible Paris as fast as your long legs can carry you to go see the exhibition at the Pavillon Carré de Baudouin, 121 rue de Ménilmontant, 75020 . . . like this white man is . . . but before you take off running, take just a moment to let me know what you think of these photos ? Have you ever come across any of Mr. Mesnager's work (play) in your travels ?
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16 comments:

LR Photography said...

Great post Owen!

Loulou said...

J'adore ! Tout simplement

lovelyprism said...

I have never seen those, but they are quite delightful.

Steve said...

Wonderful - dynamic, fleshly and yet skeletal (but not scarily so) at the same time!

Anonymous said...

How amazing that with so few brush strokes he can make the figures so full of energy,

GG

Batteson.Ind said...

I really like the photos and the the art! I love the way that he paints a sort of, one up from a matchstick man man and manages to keep it a very convincing human form. I like it when the viewer is left to fill in gaps...
I had never heard of the artist before, (until you mentioned him in one of your other posts).. cheers!

William Evertson said...

I so appreciate these posts of Mesnager's work they always put a smile on my face ;)

MixMax said...

All is new to me, the work done is so beautiful

Thank you very much for sharing that blog and such excellent work

Anonymous said...

This is the kind of "graffiti" that I really like! Beautiful! I can't say I've ever seen his artwork in my area though! And I agree, who doesn't love Paris!!!
Merveilleux.

Adam said...

Thanks for the link, and I second the recommendation, both for the artists and the 'cadre'. The house and gardens are a very surprising find in that corner of Paris.

jeff said...

J'ai toujours été interpelé par cet art et... sincèrement je savais pas que le gars s'appelait Mesnager ! Ce que j'aime beaucoup c'est la façon toute simple qu'il a de communiquer, d'interpeler, d'attirer le regard et la réflexion à travers quelques coups de pinceaux !
Et non, Paris n'est pas bien loin...!

Ciao Owen ! Je t'apporterai ta "Beep" plus tard ! C'est qu'il faut te ménager... T'as vu...je m'améliore de jour en jour ! ! ! 8°)

Owen said...

Thanks to all for stopping by today, this Sunday, our day off... I agree with one and all in that Jerome Mesnager manages to convey extraordinary power of expression with a minimalist approach. I've been amazed by his work from the very first one I saw, posted back in December.

Delwyn said...

Hi Owen,
these three artists ( I had a look as you suggested at Adam's blog)are not just graffiti artists they are very talented artists. Do they only do graffiti or have they conventional works as well?

There is such movement and muscle tone in the white man - he is alive, the dancing pair are wonderful...

Happy days

Lynne with an e said...

As the tee shirt on Driftwood's blog has it: "I can't get enough minimalism." Take that how you will.

clo said...

coucou Owen...tout d abord je tenais a te remercier (ce que j ai omis de faire...desolée ..)pour ta visite et ton commentaire...j ai encore du mal a penetrer dans cet univers de sympathiques echanges...on est timide ou on ne l est pas...etre derriere un clavier ne solutionne pas toujours le probleme...mais le coeur y est..je passe souvent ecouter regarder essayer de traduire...bref ..je tenais a te dire merci...et j adore ces deux photos..bye bye..

Owen said...

Clo, merci de cette visite ! J'ai laissé un p'tit mot chez toi... et puis j'ai passé 45 minutes à parcourir les photos dans "Voir ou Regarder"

Lynne, and I can't get too little of maximizing ! LOL !

Hi Delwyn ! I think they mostly do graffiti, although I know Jerome Mesnager also has some work on canvas for sale, perhaps on his website even. But I really prefer what I've seen on walls around Paris...