Lek & Sowat
07 Dec 2012 - 01 Sep 2013
LEK & SOWAT
Dans Les Entrailles Du Palais Secret [In The Entrails Of The Secret Palais]
7 December 2012 - 1 September 2013
In responding to the invitation from the Palais de Tokyo, Lek and Sowat expressed an interest in the entrails of the Palais: the secondary spaces not intended to accommodate exhibitions that are normally closed to the public. Their peripheral architecture is minimalist, and bears the marks of time (the nooks and crannies are dusty and covered with spider’s webs, the paint has turned yellow, the walls are in poor repair). For this intervention, Lek and Sowat are bringing together artists from different generations and fields of practice. Every artist contributes his/her skill, line, gestures, history, to a collective work in which egos and styles overlap, clash, and cohabit in a diaphanous, clandestine composition, using spray paint, paintbrush, pencil, chalk, and other salvaged materials that fall into their hands.
Lek (French Kiss, LCA, GNS, RAW, 1984) & Sowat (Da Mental Vaporz)
Lek is one of the first generation of Parisian graffiti artists who learnt his craft in the legendary area between La Chapelle and Stalingrad where French street culture emerged. Sowat is a Franco-American graffiti artist who matured in the surroundings of Marseille and Los Angeles, inspired by Chaz Bojorquez, one of the major figures in Californian graffiti who developed “Cholo writing”, a calligraphy created in the 1940s and intended to mark out the territories of Latino gangs.
Lek and Sowat are jointly involved in the practice of Urbex, taking over places that are derelict but with a powerful history – not unreminiscent of the Palais de Tokyo. In their large-scale frescos, the typographical motifs traditionally used in graffiti are taken toward a form of architecturally influenced abstraction.
Dans Les Entrailles Du Palais Secret [In The Entrails Of The Secret Palais]
7 December 2012 - 1 September 2013
In responding to the invitation from the Palais de Tokyo, Lek and Sowat expressed an interest in the entrails of the Palais: the secondary spaces not intended to accommodate exhibitions that are normally closed to the public. Their peripheral architecture is minimalist, and bears the marks of time (the nooks and crannies are dusty and covered with spider’s webs, the paint has turned yellow, the walls are in poor repair). For this intervention, Lek and Sowat are bringing together artists from different generations and fields of practice. Every artist contributes his/her skill, line, gestures, history, to a collective work in which egos and styles overlap, clash, and cohabit in a diaphanous, clandestine composition, using spray paint, paintbrush, pencil, chalk, and other salvaged materials that fall into their hands.
Lek (French Kiss, LCA, GNS, RAW, 1984) & Sowat (Da Mental Vaporz)
Lek is one of the first generation of Parisian graffiti artists who learnt his craft in the legendary area between La Chapelle and Stalingrad where French street culture emerged. Sowat is a Franco-American graffiti artist who matured in the surroundings of Marseille and Los Angeles, inspired by Chaz Bojorquez, one of the major figures in Californian graffiti who developed “Cholo writing”, a calligraphy created in the 1940s and intended to mark out the territories of Latino gangs.
Lek and Sowat are jointly involved in the practice of Urbex, taking over places that are derelict but with a powerful history – not unreminiscent of the Palais de Tokyo. In their large-scale frescos, the typographical motifs traditionally used in graffiti are taken toward a form of architecturally influenced abstraction.