Blek Le Rat Research Paper

The artist Xavier Prou was born in Boulogne-Billancourt in the western suburbs of Paris in 1951, some may know him as Blek Le Rat. He studied fine art and architecture at Beaux-Arts in Paris, then graduated in 1982. Before he graduated, Xavier Prou visited New York City and was fascinated with the city’s street art. He was one of the first people ever to do graffiti art in Paris. He is also known as "Father of stencil graffiti". One of his first stencils paintings were of rats all along the walls of Paris. He called these rats "the only free animal in the city" (Reiss, Jon), They are not only the “ free animals” but also "spreads the plague everywhere, just like street art" (Reiss, Jon). His name came from a comic book called Blek le Roc. By switching the letters around in “art” he came up with the word “Rat.” He was really discovered after he was arrested in 1991. He then only worked with pre-stenciled posters, which were much faster applications for the walls. He also learned that by using the pre-stencils lessened his chances of getting caught and possibly arrested. Blek Le Rat's artwork is influenced by the artist Richard Hambleton. Today, Le Rat has a great influence on the graffiti – art and “guerilla – art” movements. …show more content…
When he decided to change his name, there were some advantages and disadvantages. A disadvantage is that most people only know him by his art or his street name. Not a lot of people know him by his real name. One of the advantages for Blek le Rat is that many other artists were inspired by him. One artist that was inspired by him, was Banksy. Banksy states, "Every time I think I've painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only twenty years earlier"(Coan, Lee). With that being said, Le Rat has someone who is inspired by him with his street name. People also say that Le Rat is the man who gave birth to Banksy and that’s why he comes up with