Lek

Second Floor / Window / Acrylics and aerosols / 2006

“In search of fresh locations to paint, I liberated myself from the concept of the flat, easy-to-paint wall. During the 90s, everyone was painting in the same derelict locations, and the paintings didn’t survive for long. It frequently felt as though our work was being covered over without the artists who did the covering making any real effort to do any better. It was as though the spirit of competition had disappeared. Our styles, which were not very common ones for that era, weren’t being understood – so we went in search of virgin locations. When we found this building, it was not yet a spot frequented by graffiti artists, and as a location it was magnificent. It was perfect for us.”

Lek

Lek first started working in graffiti at the end of the 80s. An innovator and pioneer in the discipline known as urbex, which involves seeking out suitable abandoned locations, he developed an abstract, architectural aesthetic that soon won him the recognition of his peers. 2010 saw him dedicating over a year to his most ambitious project, Le Mausolée – an unauthorised artistic residency in an abandoned supermarket in North Paris. He went on to co-organise the first-ever collective graffiti exhibition in the Palais de Tokyo, while also participating in countless other projects such as the Tour Paris 13. Lek was one of the first graffiti artists to work in the buildings in Pantin.

Other works in the buidling