When comparisons were first made Prou said “People say he copies me, but I don’t think so. Over the years many comparisons have been made between Blek Le Rat and the works of Banksy. The piece is a replica of Madonna di Loreta which he dedicated to his wife Sybille. The oldest of his works to survive was found in 2012 behind many posters on a house in Leipzig, Germany. Since his arrest and a direct connection made by police to work around Paris, he subsequently shifted his artwork to paste ups that carried a less dangerous penalty if he was caught. In 1991 he was identified by French police and was arrested while spraying a stenciled replica of Madonna and Child by Caravaggio.

His now famous rats began to pop up and get noticed by Paris inhabitants, he described his rats as the “only free animal in the city, one which spreads the plague everywhere, just like street art.” He took inspiration from a French comic called Blek Le Roc for his artist name with the obvious change that is an anagram of “art”. Xavier Prou began creating his signature stencil art on the streets of Paris around 1981. The urban artist Blek Le Rat has been credited as the godfather of graffiti stencil art who is said to be an inspiration to the most famous stencil artist in the world, Banksy.īlek Le Rat was born Xavier Prou in Boulogne-Billancourt that is in the western suburbs of Paris, France around the year 1951 / 52.

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