Xavier prou, or more famously known as, Blek le rat, was the first graffiti artists in paris, inspiring many other street artists such as Banksy. He is the founder of the international stencil art movement.
This all started when Blek was introduced to the 'wild style' graffiti prevalent in New york City. From inspirations that he saw whilst in New york, he started to create his own paintings in the streets of Paris in 1981, but using the stencil, which was more appropriate for the French architecture.
Blek's first stencils consisted of black rats, which could be seen running along the walls throughout central Paris. The rat, which was also an anagram for 'art' is what Blek describes as 'the only animal to survive the apocalypse.'
In 1983 Blek also began to paint life size stencils which he used alongside the famous rat stencil he had created.
Blek describes his images as gifts to the cities of the world and states that they raise awareness of social issues. quoting that he 'wants the characters of the paintings to walk out of the museums to give them back to the people of the city'
In the mid 2000's Blek's work became much more controversial and political following the kidnap of the French Journalist Florence Aubenas. Blek printed hundreds of prints of her image around Paris. He used this tactic to raise awareness and attract the attention of the media and politicians. That same year, Blek painted a series that portrayed beggars on the street to try and raise awareness on homelessness. He painted the same portrait of a beggar around the world, stating that ;sometimes images have a bigger impact than reality'
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