L’ATLAS

L’ATLAS.

1978. Lives and works in paris

A maze is a clever roadmap. Confounded? French graffiti artist L’Atlas lives up to his name as he finds meaning even in the madness of catacombs. he is vandalising the floor and turn it into a work of art, a painted warren. The canvases are a crisscross of interlinking lines resembling a maze, with a compass giving directions. They are not chaotic; instead they exude the symmetry of the mandala and have similarities with Indian rangoli patterns.

In Paris, as L’Atlas’s works leap out of hundreds of walls and pavements, harried commuters are forced to carry home images of his catacombs. “We’re so rushed that most of us don’t ask ourselves where we are rushing to?” says L’Atlas.

As a 13-year-old, he skipped school to watch graffiti artists at work, and then stole paint to do his own thing. In his early twenties, he took off to Egypt, Morocco and Syria to learn from calligraphists. That’s where his present style emerged — a mix of Arabic geometric art and Latin alphabet.

With just about anything he can get his hands on,  French street artist LATLAS draws on themes of Arabic calligraphy, Greek mythology, Oriental philosophy, art and architecture as he   tags the city with his labyrinthian symbols that are at once contemporary and primitive; questioning our direction and inviting us to get lost in the urban maze. Using a spray can, paint, gaffer tape or chalk, L’Atlas creates metaphors for the city that make us go around in circles but never shut us in. “We should take the time to get lost in order to be able to find the way out. To (re)find ourselves, to get to ourselves again.”

The artist is inspired by architect Yona Friedman as an observer of daily life, of the city and what it offers us, and aims to further explore the realm of architecture by  participating in projects like the Tripoli green belt with Gilles Clément. L’Atlas has spent the last decade tagging every edifice the city could give him in an exploration of man and city, internal and external.

CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR AND BIENNALES

2011 | Indian Art Summit – New Delhi / India
2010 | Art Kiev Contemporary Art Fair – Mistetskiy Arsenal Culture and Art Museum Complex / Ukraine
2010 | Biennale des arts graphiques – Musée d’Art Contemporain de Perm / Russie
2010 | Cutlog Contemporary Art Fair – Paris / France
2010 | “Qui Vive” Moscow International Biennale for Young Art – Moscou / Russie
2010 | Stroke.Urban Art Fair – Munich / Allemagne
2010 | SCOPE New York Art Show – New York / USA

2009 | Stroke.Urban Art Fair – Munich / Allemagne
2009 | Cutlog Contemporary Art Fair – Paris / France
2009 | “Surfaces actives” – Art Beijing – Pékin / Chine

2003 | “Happy Biennale !” – Maison du Japon – Venise / Italie

SOLO SHOWS

2010 | “L’ATLAS IS HERE” – Mois de la Photo Off – Galerie G – Paris / France
2010 | Galerie Seize – Marseille / France

2009 | “City fragments” – Gallery Nine5 – New York /USA
2009 | “Off the street” – Galerie Valentina Volchkova – Paris / France
2009 | “The way of art” – Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture – Paris / France
2009 | “Toiles errantes” – Maison des Métallos – Paris / France

2008 | “D’un monde l’autre” – Galerie Il trifolio Nero – Gênes / Italie
2008 | “L’esprit vertical” – Chaumont / France
2008 | “Cosmic Graffiti” – Espace Beaurepaire – Paris / France

2007 | “l’Atlas city” – Galerie GT29 – Fribourg / Suisse
2007 | “Back in the street” – Galerie Vibes – Montpellier / France
2007 | “Le monde de demain nous appartient” – Galerie Wall – Orléans / France
2007 | “I WAS HERE” – Galerie L.J. Beaubourg – Paris / France

2006 | “Toiles errantes” – Exposition à l’école d’architecture – Paris / France
2006 | “Capitales” – Toast Gallery – Paris / France
2005 | “L’Atlas” – Muesli – Montpellier / France
2004 | “L’Atlas” – Montana Shop – Barcelone / Espagne

PERFORMANCES

2010 | “Surfaces actives”- Alliance Française et Cultures france – New Delhi / Inde
2010 | Art custom for Mercedes Paris / France
2010 | “Un été dans la ville ” – Place du Forum – Reims / France
2010 | Fort Saint-Jean – Marseille / France
2010 | Festival “Out Door” – Rome / Italie

2009 | Washington square park – New York /USA

2008 | “Ne perd pas le nord” – Fi’Art – Centre Georges Pompidou – Paris / France

GROUP SHOWS (Selection)

2011 | “Urban Activity” – Centre culturel Jean-Cocteau – Les Lilas / France
2011 | Group show “L’ATLAS vs TANC” – Lebenson Gallery – Paris / France
2011 | Group show “L’ATLAS vs TANC” – Alliance Française – New Delhi / Inde
2010 | “Overseas & Undertones” – Miami, Atlanta – San Francisco / USA
2010 | “3″ – New art – London Newcastle project space at 28 Redchurch Street – Londres / UK
2010 | Auction Phillips de Pury & Company – Londres / UK
2010 | “Le M.U.R. fête ses 3 ans” – Espace des Blancs Manteaux – Paris / France
2010 | “Les Labyrinthes de La Calligraphie” – AvantGarden Gallery – Milan / Italie
2010 | “The middle age in the XXI century” – Galerie Fotoloft Moscou / Russie
2010 | “Kiss the city” – the Skalitzers Gallery – Berlin / Allemagne
2010 | “Nervousness” – Galerie G – Paris / France
2010 | “Strates” – Maison des Arts – Créteil / France

2009 | “Etats des lieux” – Galerie du jour Agnès B – Paris / France
2009 | “Né dans la rue” – Fondation Cartier – Paris / France
2009 | “T.A.G – collection Gallizia” – Grand Palais – Paris / France

2008 | “Lay down the reality” – Galerie Moretti & Moretti – Paris
2008 | “Outside in” – Prescription Art – Londres / Angleterre
2008 | “Les 40 ans de Dinh Van” – Mini Palais – Paris
2008 | “Taguer n’est pas jouer” – Galerie Bailly – Paris
2008 | “Urban Nature” – Espaces ruraux – Aude / France
2008 | “Le mur” – Galerie LJ Beaubourg – Paris / France
2008 | “Des écritures dans la ville” – Médiathèque – Issy les Moulineaux / France
2008 | “No new ennemies” – Jardin botanique – Bruxelles / Belgique

2007 | “Behind the seen” – Ad Hoc Gallery – New York /USA
2007 | “Illisible city” – Carrhart out let show – Weil and Rhein / Allemagne
2007 | “Graphology” Palais de Tokyo – Paris / France
2007 | Louis Alexander Gallery – Porto Cervo / Sardaigne

2006 | “Labyrinthes et spirales” – Château de Fontenoy – Bourgogne / France
2006 | “Synapses” – Musée du Montparnasse – Paris / France
2006 | “Intersections” – Le Boaz – Bruxelles / Belgique

2005 | “Republik’Art” – Jogjakharta, Jakharta / Indonésie
2005 | “Versus Color” – La Kabak – Lausanne / Suisse
2005 | “Section Urbaine” – Espace des Blancs-Manteaux – Paris / France

2004 | “L’invention du monde” – Centre Georges Pompidou – Paris / France
2004 | “Citadins en Milieu Artistique” – La lune en parachute – Epinal / France
2004 | “Art Is Stick” – Galerie Artcore – Paris / France

2003 | “Toiles errantes” – Agnès b Shop – Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, Londres

2002 | “Kitchen 93″ – Festival Kosmopolite – Bagnolet / France
2002 | “Implosion/Explosion” – Oberkampf – Paris / France

2001 | “Paliss’art” – Canal Saint-Martin – Paris / France
2001 | “Street Art” – Agnès b : Galerie du jour – Paris / France