Work by Ypope Oct

Fourth Floor / Metal doorway – wall – window / Aerosols

“I first saw this building in a graffiti magazine – then one night, my friends and I came across it quite by chance. We had just been present at the filming of a TV programme about DJs, which took hunting as its central theme. Well, let’s just say we’d drunk a good deal of wine in honour of the occasion. (Laughs) Since this wasn’t yet a location dedicated to graffiti, there was a brief moment of panic when the cops turned up just as we were wandering around looking for a way in. But it passed off without incident – they weren’t there for us, and we were able to paint in peace. I stopped by again quite recently, and I was amazed to see my painting was still visible.”

Ypope OCT

Ypope OCT discovered graffiti outside Paris in the early 90s. Initially, he started out under another name, but following an arrest he adopted a fresh identity, which he baptised in 1999 with a graffiti painting tour of Europe using an InterRail pass. On returning to France, he worked mainly in Paris and, wishing to remain adaptable, did his best to cover the full range of media favoured by the “illegal” graffiti artist. Today, older and less in need of an adrenalin rush, he is considerably less active, even if he still makes it a point of honour to “carry on making mischief”. Be that as it may, he still does plenty of painting in authorised locations too, albeit under a different name.

Other works in the buidling