Inspired by New York’s graffiti scene in the 70’s and by WWII propaganda, where Italian fascists would stencil pictures of Mussolini, Blek Le Rat (real name Xavier Prou) moved away from traditional tags and started out with a simple rat stencil, of which he painted thousands on the city’s streets. The Rat invasionīlek Le Rat created the stencil scene in the early 80’s on the streets of Paris and has been pushing the boundaries of graffiti art ever since. “Only 20 years earlier.” Banksy’s work is often a homage to that already done by le Rat. In 2005, the British graffiti artist Banksy, whose canvases today command six figure price tags, quoted that every time he thought he’d painted something slightly original, he found out that Blek Le Rat had already been there, done that.

Born in 1951 in Paris, he is considered by many to be the grandmaster, the creator ‘absolu’ of stencil graffiti as we know it today. Anyone who knows their stuff about street art will hold the Parisian graffiti artist, Blek le Rat in the highest regard.

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