Paz, San Salvador
Gerson chose the word “Paz” (peace).
He told me that for the last 2 years, the neighbourhood has become a lot safer than it used to.
From 1979 to 1992 El Salvador went through a civil war. After the war ended, gangs started to develop and took control of the slum areas.
Colonia Las Palmas used to be extremely violent, and shootings often took place with neighbouring slums in a territorial conflicts.
These last few years, drastic anti-gang mesures by the government have significantly improved safety in the slums and in the whole country.
Fuerza, El Salvador
San Salvador, El Salvador
Teresa chose the word “Fuerza” (Strength).
These last few years she has been fighting against cancer and has become stronger than ever.
This is the first house I’ve painted in Colonia Las Palmas, San Salvador.
We met Teresa and asked if we could paint her house. She was very enthusiastic straight away!
I’m always very grateful towards the first person whose house I paint in each slum because they trust me without knowing me. Now many people are asking me to paint their houses.
Share The Word Project episode San Salvador is under way!
2023
Saint-Denis, France
I painted this old restaurant car which used to be on the Paris-Toulouse line in the 60s and 70s.
Today it is parked outside a school in Saint-Denis in the northern outskirts of Paris and is used as a cultural centre.
I also painted the ceiling inside the car with the word « Mixité » (diversity), a word chosen by teenagers from the school.
Thank you to Vanessa Vancutsem from Le Grand Palais and Les Dionysiaques !
Grand Palais immersif, Paris
Magnet Mural is my installation for Loading show at Grand Palais immersif in Paris.
The idea is to let the people create their own mural with the simple geometrical shapes I use in my work. The shapes’ sides are multiples of 9 cm to make it easy to combine different shapes to create more complexe ones.
I created a first mural for the opening of the show with the word « LIFE ». And then people started taking changing it and creating their own.
In a different part of the exhibition, you can see pictures and an interview to understand more about my work and the work of other artists such as Moses & Taps, Daev Momo, Kashink, 1UP Crew and Bilelal !
The show is on in Paris until the 21st of July!
Thank you to Roei Amit, Fanny Fernandez, Pascale Filoche and congratulations to Christian Omodeo for putting all this together !
Bastia, Corsica
I’ve just finished this 160m2 mural in Lupinu, a low income neighbourhood of Bastia, Corsica.
A local retired woman chose the word « Luce » which means « Light » in Corsican. I love this word as my work is all about shining a light on communities that live in the shadows.
For the first couple of days I explored the city, met locals and took pictures of flora, architecture and other details. I then started on the structure of the mural with a general idea of what I wanted to paint.
The different patterns are inspired by local churches, palm trees, pink laurel flowers, the Mediterranean sea, etc… Since I was given the word « Light », I placed a yellow sun in the centre of the mural, a symbol I took from pebble paving in Bastia’s high street.
I’m very grateful for Una Volta Bastia‘s perfect organisation! It was an absolute pleasure to be working with Juana and her team again!
Thank you to Léonor Husson for the great company and her pictures and videos!
I want thank the supportive population of Lupinu who welcomed the first large-scale mural in their neighbourhood.
Impression d’Argenteuil
« Impression d’Argenteuil ».
I just painted this mural in Argenteuil next to Paris!
Argenteuil is a place where several impressionist artists lived and painted and this year we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the mouvement.
Each element of the mural is inspired by a painting from that era painted in Argenteuil.
For exemple, the poppies are from Claude Monet, and so is the bridge « Pont d’Argenteuil » or the large flower pot from his painting « Maison de l’artiste à Argenteuil ».
The diamonds are from the sails and their reflection in the water in his « Régates à Argenteuil ».
The horses are from Alfred Sisley’s « La Grande Rue à Argenteuil ».
Gustave Caillebotte inspired the sunflower as well as the parallelograms which come from the fields in « Paysage à Argenteuil ».
Thank you to Kaufman & Broad and Ville d’Argenteuil for letting me paint on their building. And a huge thank you to my gallery Urban Signature for the impeccable organisation.
As always I painted this mural without a proper sketch and without using projectors or apps to put a drawing up on the wall. I studied the impressionist paintings of Argenteuil before starting but I let my mind build the mural little by little. So I really want to thank the « direction de la culture et du tourisme » for trusting me to paint the wall without at all knowing what I was going to do.
Seine Impressionniste
“Seine impressionniste” (2023)
This wall painted for the University of Le Havre is a representation of the Seine river which is the main axis along which impressionist painters created their masterpieces. The only curved line in the structure – running from top left to bottom right – represents the Seine river from the estuary to Paris.
The elements on the mural are references to 13 impressionist paintings, in an extremely simplified way. For me it was almost like creating pictograms for these different paintings. So as to keep a geographical structure, the elements to the left hand-side represent pieces painted at the estuary near Le Havre, the elements in the middle represent paintings of Rouen and Giverny, and finally the elements on the right hand-side represent Paris as we move further upstream.
I don’t think this explanation is necessary in order to appreciate the structure and the colours of the mural. But since internet ensables me to write an explanation, I thought I would share it!
Thank you to Josepha and her team at ”Service Culturel ULH” for their very warm welcome and for their efficient organisation!
Seb Toussaint 