PARIS– Paris is getting a colorful splash of Olympic creative spirit with almost 30 vibrant pieces of street art appearing on busy metro station walls, on a large billboard at the airport and in front of city hall.
One of them shows a drawing of French fencer Ysaora Thibus in action. Another has canoeists paddling down the River Seine. Some others include people having fun in a busy neighborhood. The original art was spread across Paris and other host cities near Olympic and Paralympic venues.
“During this Olympics season, there is a lot of energy and people coming from all over the world,” he said. New York native JonOne who has lived in Paris for three decades and is seen in the street art world as a pioneer of graffiti. He is one of six renowned street artists from four continents whose work is currently displayed in train stations, airports, taxis, digital screens and billboards.
The artists were selected through a campaign led by Visa to help support small businesses. They come from France (Marko 93 and Olivia De Bona), Brazil (Alex Senna), Australia (Vexta) and the United States (Swoon).
“Why not use street art?” said JonOne, 60, whose artwork can be found in various places in Paris, including the Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre station. It took two months with five collaborators to complete the blue, white and red expressionist-style abstract graffiti, which covers 250 square meters (300 square yards) of the wall of the busy station.
“It projects a lot of energy and youth culture,” he said. “It’s a good time to showcase our artistic work.”
The campaign was conceived as an outdoor exhibition curated by Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, a specialist in urban art. The 28 original works will remain on display until September 8th.
“Like high-level athletes, artists share values of tolerance, open-mindedness, questioning and overcoming,” said Lasserre, who has organized more than 50 exhibitions with public and private institutions, including an exhibition at Paris City Hall. “Associating art and sport is one of the pillars of Olympism.”
Each creation highlights the spirit of the neighborhoods — like Saint Denis, Montmartre and Rue Montorgueil — capturing the vibrancy of cafes, bookstores and shops that have become an essential fabric of Paris and the entire Ile-de-France region. They can also be found at Lille, Lyon and Marseille airports, hosts of some Olympic events.
“We asked artists to show us their version of Paris in the most authentic way,” said Juan Arturo Herrera, business administrator and marketing executive at Visa International. Last month, he carried the Olympic flame over a 200-meter course in eastern France.
“Street art is the most accessible of the arts,” he said. “It’s universal. We’ve been seeing this for decades in cities. He toured museums and we wanted to bring him back. We see this as the largest outdoor art exhibition in public space.”
De Bona, a Parisian, is proud to bring her works of art to her hometown, family and visitors from around the world.
“It was so moving,” she said. “I see how art makes my city so beautiful. It’s a privilege to represent France to all these people who come to Paris from all over the world.”
De Bona, 39, recalled when street art and graffiti were not widely accepted by the masses. But now, she has witnessed a positive shift in perception and within the industry, which was previously male-dominated.
“People need photos on the streets,” she said. “We need to welcome the arts. We are the bridge between people who think they don’t fit in the museum. We bring art to people. This is our way of expressing ourselves and existing.”
Marko 93 said his passion for street art made him insist on the words of skeptics. As a young man, he was intrigued to observe the evolution of graffiti during the 1980s hip-hop era in New York, which he called the “promised land” of graffiti.
“It’s all about perseverance,” the 51-year-old said during his live performance, painting a fencer along the Seine. “Art is also perseverance. This passion drives us to move forward and beyond our limits.”
One day, JonOne would like to see arts reintroduced as competition in the Olympics.
Art competitions first emerged at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, with medals awarded in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. The International Olympic Committee ended competition at the 1948 Games, and an attempt to bring it back was denied four years later.
“Artists are also like athletes,” said JonOne. “I respect basketball athletes and runners. Art isn’t really a sport, but it should be included in the Olympics. Just surviving as an artist is an Olympic sport.”
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