Ever Heard of Blek Le Rat? [Banksy Alert]

Here’s a cool discovery for you Bansky fans out there. If you have been following the graffiti artist for a while now, you actually might know about Blek Le Rat already. If not, then it just might be a happy day for you.

Blek Le Rat describes himself below.

.1981 to 1983 the beginning of the stencil graffiti art .I had the idea to use stencils to make graffiti for one reason. I did not want to imitate the American graffiti that I had seen in NYC in 1971 during a journey I had done over there.I wanted to have my own style in the street… I began to spray some small rats in the streets of Paris because rats are the only wild living animals in cities and only rats will survive when the human race will have disappeared and died out.

Now if that doesn’t get him the slightest respect from a reader, then I will be surprised. At the very least, one’s interest should be caught.

The Paris street artist was not always called Blek Le Rat. He was born with the name Xavier Prou. That, of course, would have been a boring name to use for a pioneer in street art, so he had to come up with a street name that would bring more punch.

Enter a childhood cartoon called Blek Le Roc, which is supposed to be the inspiration for the street artist’s public name.

And how is he related to Banksy? Well, their lineage does not merge at any point (as far as we know), but it has been said that Blek Le Rat is “the rat who gave birth to Banksy”. So if anything, Banksy fans have to be thankful to the French guy who “brought” us the graffiti artist whose work we eagerly watch out for these days. Also, if you like Banksy’s work, then you might find the rat’s work just as fascinating. Take a look at some of his art pieces.

For more images, visit Blek Le Rat’s web site. Oh, and for those in London, make sure to drop by the Opera Gallery. He’ll be having a solo exhibit from April 27 to May 17.

Via Origin of Cool