Paris-based street artist ABOVE is known for weaving stencil paintings into the surrounding streetscape to create images that border on optical illusions. Traveling the world to make art that comments on social and political issues, ABOVE keeps an eye out for situations where real world and painted image can interact, with results that are playful, head-scratching and haunting.
Using stationary shadows, dangling wires, a hole in the Berlin Wall, a panhandler's spot next to an ATM, or the ornate frame of a boarded-up window, ABOVE's work plays with perception and perspective to elevate street art to a field far beyond the common tag. Check out some of our favorites, and be sure to cruise the whole online gallery for even more.
London, England.
Zaragoza, Spain.
"24 percent desempleados translates into english 24 percent unemployed," ABOVE explains. "Spain is the eurozone's 4th largest economy, however one in four people in spain are unemployed."
Madrid, Spain.
Berlin Wall, Germany.
Lisbon, Portugal.
Copenhagen, Denmark.
Paris, France.
In this piece, ABOVE changed a pre-existing Banksy stencil (seen in the video above) into a commentary on Banksy's increasing commercial success.
Images by ABOVE
DISCUSSION
The thievery piece also has a rat indicative perhaps of taking the fame and style from Blek La Rat. Stencil art is not graffiti. Banksy had a war with graffiti writer Robbo in the UK which started over Banksy's alteration of a graffiti work which had endured since the 1980s. This was not only disrectful to Robbo, but also set Banksy and street art apart from the underground graffiti art world. I personally enjoy the wit & satire in Banksy's work. I respect that he was a notable illegal underground artist before his popularity bloomed globally. If people are using jackhammers to steal his work, perhaps Banksy should put it up high out of the kiddies' reach.