I spent the first week this month in Paris. We strolled the streets, lounged in parks and ate delicious cheese and croissants. Though we did not participate in the extraordinarily long lines for the Louvre and other classic spots, we still got to see artwork all over the city.
Street Art is one of my favorite forms of folklore. More public than marginalia or latrinalia, the things we write on the sides of buildings are a peek at public thought. These words and images posted furtively on the street demonstrate what interests us and what we hope to communicate to our neighbors. There are political messages, of course, there is also more general social commentary as well as simple acts of creative experimentation. Locals and visitors converse in these spaces across the length of time that the graffiti is allowed to remain.
I have favorite spots to check in Seattle to keep track of what people are making and sharing. While I’m out wandering in unfamiliar cities I rely on happy accidents and fortuitous turns down random streets. I don’t use my Instagram account often anymore, but when I do I chronicle the street art that I discover around me in the world.
In Paris we frequently spotted recognizable pieces like the grinning M. Chat and the shrinky-dink-esque Space Invaders that hovered above street level, tracking the crowds. We stayed in the 9th Arrondissement, near Pigalle, down slope from Montmartre and on our trek through the side streets toward the big Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen (flea market) we found some great alley galleries. From Oberkampf near République up the Canal Saint-Martin on our ramble to Butte-Chaumont we also spotted some fun collections.
Down in the thick of things near the Seine, we poked around the seven stories of the 59 Rue de Rivoli. The building was packed with working studios and there was art on every wall.
A group of artists established the space in 1999 when they occupied an abandoned bank. They were threatened with eviction but ultimately the city decided a thriving space for artists was better than an abandoned building. The spot now shines with charming, scrappy brilliance in the midst of the mall shops that have sprung up around it. It was one of our favorite spots on our trip.
What is your favorite Street Art spotting? I’d love to see what people are making where you’re at. Send me a note!
inspiration this month: leaving books behind
Little Free Libraries are especially great while traveling. I get to see what fellow travelers have read and to leave something behind (which helps be justify the new books I gathered on my trip.) I specifically brought a book to leave in Paris. I’d picked it up in Seattle partly because it was a collection of essays about cultural phenomena unique to the city of light, but also because of the front cover note about the “Betsy’s Book” project. When Betsy died, her daughter Sarah sent her books out in the world via Little Free Libraries across the States. She asked people who found and read the books to drop her a note. So, I sent my postcard to Sarah and set the copy of “Paris, Paris” free in a book exchange at a café near my hotel with hope that someone might enjoy Downie’s curmudgeonly essays about his adopted city and take the book further afield.
