For those of you who don't follow the street art scene, Blek le Rat is the French graffiti artist who began his famed career in Paris back in the '80s and has inspired the work of everyone from Shepard Fairey to Banksy. The first images that he stenciled? Thousands of rats, running along the city's walls. "I wanted to do a rat invasion," he has said. "The rat is the only free animal in the city. It's an animal that people fear and has a strong history of bringing disease. When rats invade a town, it is bad."

A lot of people might say the same thing about graffiti artists. "The problem is that 40 percent of people like graffiti and the other 60 percent don't like it," le Rat has explained. "But the 40 percent who like [it] don't want it on their wall — that's the problem. Graffiti is somehow an aggression towards the wall. You assault people by leaving an image. It's not in people's mindset that an artist can intervene in the city to create. It will be. We saw how many years it took surrealism to be accepted, or pointillism, Van Gogh. In art things take a long time."

Legal threats and a heap of fines have forced le Rat to stop painting on public walls and stick to less dangerous poster work, lest he face prison. But have no fear Angelenos, thanks to Subliminal Projects Gallery, you can catch the first solo exhibition by the Parisian stencil pioneer in the United States—entitled "Art Is Not Peace But War"—starting tomorrow at their new Echo Park location. Original screen prints, paintings and a site-specific, three-dimensional installation will be on display, along with stunning digital images of le Rat's street work by his photojournalist wife, Sybille Prou.

Translation: This is exhibit is a big freaking deal, and shouldn't be missed!

Subliminal Projects Gallery is located at 1331 West Sunset Boulevard, (213) 383-9299. Limited-edition prints, signed by le Rat, Prou and Shepard Fairey will be available exclusively through the gallery.

- Caroline Stanley

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Similar Topics:art, Gallery, Street Art

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