Christian Guemy

<div>Artwork by Christian Guemy Alis C215 on a post box.</div>

Kiss

C215

<div>C215 for 'Cities of Hope' festival, Manchester, England.</div>

C215 - 'Cities of Hope'.

<div>This stencil piece by French artist Christian Guémy (a.k.a. C215) depicts Spanish artist and surrealism master Salvador Dalí. The piece is small in size and can be easily missed. It is located in a low window in the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, between the begining of the street and the Alliance Françcaise de Madrid.<br><br>Born in 1973, C215 started spray painting in 2005 and is today one of the finest, and most productive stencil artists on the street art scene. Guémy explains: "I try to interact with context, so I place in the streets elements and characters that belong especially to the streets. I like to show things and people that society aims at keeping hidden: homeless people, smokers, street kids, bench lovers for example".<br><br></div><div>Shepard Fairey says about Guémy: "C215's art captures a light, depth, and humanity that is difficult, and rare using stencils, his chosen medium. Stencils tend to flatten images and make them static, but C215 has developed a style of illustrating and stenciling that yields an impressionistic illumination of his subject's character. Even though his technique is meticulously refined, C215's work transcends the formal and seems to get to the core of compassion and belief in the human spirit. Encountering C215's pieces on the street always makes me happy".<br><br></div>

"Salvador Dalí"

<div>Hidden on a crossing at Oranienstraße / Adalberstraße, just at a turkish snack bar, the girl is watching the daily traffic jam...</div>

girl at the crossing

C 215

Untitled

<div>"Louis-Antoine de Bougainville" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

<div>"André Malraux" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

André Malraux

<div>"Victor Hugo" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Victor Hugo

<div>"Jean Moulin" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Jean Moulin

<div>"Jean Zay" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Jean Zay

<div>"Pierre Brossolette" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Pierre Brossolette

<div>"Berty Albrecht" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Berty Albrecht

CARAVAGGIO 

<div>Mother and Child done with the Galérie-Itinérance<br><br>Update 22/07/2022</div>

Mother and Child

<div>"Mirabeau" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Mirabeau

@c215

<div>C215 has left dozens of his quick pieces, this one is in good conditions, painted on a junction box in direction to the river Spree.</div>

woman / portrait

<div>C215's amazing stencil work in Istanbul</div>

<div>"Marcellin Berthelot" done during the Christian's Guemy show about "Illustres" which is the name given in France to personalities that have contribute in building the Free republic, defends liberty of expression and equality. most of those personalities are having a place at Le Panthéon.</div>

Marcellin Berthelot

<div>One stencil in the overwhelming &nbsp; at Haus Schwarzenbergs backyard. You need some time to explore all!</div>

door-girl

christianguemy

Minty

Obey Giant

LIZ ART BLN ARTIST

blox.graffiti

<div>photo taken by instagram: @grafftagram</div>

Wednesday Adams (The Adams Family) 

Volare

<div><strong>Impressionist painter</strong>, friend of Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley, he is recognized from 1883 when his style starts evolving towards representations with more precise contours. A small feminine portrait of his hand is on display at the Saint-Léger museum of Soissons.</div>

Pierre Auguste Renoir 

<div><strong>Made famous by the lyricism of his poems</strong>, member of the French Academy, he entered politics starting from 1830. During the Revolution of 1848, he became part of the Provisional Government. In particular, he signed the Decree to Abolish Slavery in the French Colonies on April 27, 1848.</div>

Alphonse de Lamartine 

<div><strong>Saint-Just was a boarder in Soissons</strong> from 1779 to 1785 at the Saint-Nicolas des Oratoriens Collège (now Saint-Just Collège), a renowned establishment where his uncle and father had already studied. <strong>Exalted by the Revolution</strong>, he bound himself to Robespierre alongside whom he took the fall. He died on the scaffold.</div>

Louis Antoine de Saint Just

<div><strong>Founder of realistic painting</strong>, politically active, he took an active part in the Paris Commune (1871) becoming director of the Fine Arts. Exiled to Switzerland, however, he still becomes quite successful throughout Europe. The Saint-Léger museum of Soissons displays a Landscape painted by Courbet in 1873.</div>

Gustave Courbet

Le graffeur ! -- Crimes of minds --

<div><strong>The Maid of Orleans</strong> had a short stay in Soissons in 1429, after the coronation of King Charles VII in Reims. The following year, abandoned by her troops, she was denied access to the city. <strong>Captured in Compiegne</strong>, she was sold to the English in 1430 by the Count de Ligny.</div>

Jeanne d’Arc

<div>ARTURb 2012 organized by LAC (Laboratório de Actividades Criativas)</div>

<div><strong>A young teacher in Paris</strong>, she adhered to revolutionary movements. <strong>Captured during the Paris Commune</strong>, she was deported to New Caledonia in 1873. She stayed there for 7 years. Back in France, she resumed her militant activities and became a revolutionary figure, an anarchist and a feminist.</div>

Louise Michel

<div>This <strong>Dutch painter</strong> born in Utrecht also works in Italy and France. At the Museum of Soissons, <strong>a child portrait</strong> signed by his hand is dated 1637.
<br>On this picture is <strong>the little dog</strong>, attentive to the orders of his young mistress. He is a metaphor for good education.</div>

Le Chien de Johan Cornelisz Van Loenen

<div><strong>The Crepin and Crépinien shoemakers</strong> made shoes for the poor. Christians from Rome, they preached in Soissons but were arrested and martyred. Their worship has long been popular as evidenced by the churches built in their honor and the sculptures of the two saints at the Saint-Léger museum.
</div>

Saint Crépin et Saint Crépinien

<div>C215 for 'Cities of Hope' festival, Manchester, England.<br>Building has been demolished &nbsp;</div>

'Cities of Hope'

<div>Despite his pacifist positions, his age and his health problems, this writer voluntarily enlisted in the infantry from the beginning of the Great War. His novel, The Fire, <strong>Prix Goncourt 1916</strong>, recounts his battles on the front line in the Soissonais.</div>

Henri Barbusse

<div><strong>ENTRE OMBRE ET LUMIÈRE - PORTRAITS DE COMPAGNONS DE LA LIBÉRATION<br><br></strong>In an exhibition presented at the "Museum of the Order of the Liberation" and in the streets of the Invalides district, Christian Guemy alias C215 painted the portraits of these women and men who committed themselves alongside General de Gaulle. <br>Around the Invalides, around twenty mailboxes welcome the stencil paintings of C215. "What I hope that someone will come and post a letter or walk their dog, explains the artist, and that by&nbsp; seeing the art he will wonder: 'Who is that, Dominique Koseyo?'" He is one of the 1,038 Companions of the Liberation. Less known than Romain Gary, André Malraux or Hubert Germain who was the last to die in October 2021. "If all the Companions have disappeared today, it is very important to keep their memory alive, continues C215. It was a way to bring them to life in the street." <br>The route proposed in the streets around the Invalides, a district where urban art is usually totally absent, extends the exhibition presented at the Museum of the Order of the Liberation. Inside, C215 made around thirty stencil portraits on period objects. "I gleaned vintage newspapers or a TSF radio set on which I painted Pierre Brossolette. There is a vintage aviator's jacket to paint Romain Gary, who was an aviator himself. has military maps, in particular an American map to paint Eisenhower on. The idea is to help understand the environment and the universe of the character represented and at the same time to talk about these objects of the everyday because they were everyday heroes."<br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>Dans une exposition présentée au musée de l’Ordre de la Libération et sur du mobilier urbain dans le quartier des Invalides, Christian Guemy allias C215 a peint les portraits de ces femmes et de ces hommes qui se sont engagés aux côtés du Général de Gaulle.<br>Autour des Invalides, une vingtaine de supports comme des boîtes aux lettres accueillent <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/arts-expos/street-art/l-artiste-c215-appelle-l-etat-a-soutenir-le-street-art-par-des-commandes-territoriales-d-oeuvres_4012503.html">les peintures au pochoir de C215</a>. <em>"Ce que j'espère qu'une personne vienne poster une lettre ou promener son chien</em>, explique l'artiste,<em> et qu'à force de voir la boite il se dira : 'C'est qui ça, Dominique Koseyo ?'"</em>&nbsp; Il s'agit de l'un des 1 038 Compagnons de la Libération. Moins connu que Romain Gary, André Malraux ou <a href="https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/seconde-guerre-mondiale/mort-d-hubert-germain-qui-etait-ce-compagnon-de-la-liberation-a-qui-un-hommage-est-rendu-aux-invalides_4805691.html">Hubert Germain qui fut le dernier à s’éteindre en octobre 2021</a>. <em>"Si tous les Compagnons ont disparu aujourd'hui, il est très important de faire vivre leur mémoire</em>, poursuit C215.<em> C'était une manière de les rendre vivants dans la rue."<br></em>Le parcours proposé dans les rues autour des Invalides, quartier où l’art urbain est habituellement totalement absent, prolonge l’exposition présentée au musée de l’Ordre de la Libération. Dedans, C215 a réalisé une trentaine de portraits au pochoir sur des objets d’époque. <em>"J'ai glané des journaux d'époque ou un poste de radio TSF sur lequel j'ai peint Pierre Brossolette. Il y a un blouson d'aviateur d'époque pour y peindre Romain Gary qui était aviateur lui-même. Il y a des cartes d'état-major, notamment une carte américaine pour y peindre Eisenhower. L'idée c'est d'aider à comprendre quel est l'environnement et l'univers du personnage représenté et à la fois parler de ces objets du quotidien parce que c'était des héros du quotidien."</em></div>

Dominique Kosseyo

untitled

Maria & Jesus

<div><strong>Actor of theater and cinema</strong>, he is one of the principal stars of the 1950s. His youth, his beauty and his charisma earned him an international reputation. <strong>In the theater, with Jean Vilar</strong>, he assured a huge popular success in the classical repertoire. He died prematurely of a devastating cancer.</div>

Gérard Philipe 

<div><strong>Survivor of concentration camps</strong>, she is noted in the political environment by <strong>her beliefs</strong>. Her name is attached to the law that decriminalized abortion on January 17, 1975. Soissons owes her the <strong>construction of the new hospital in 1977</strong>.</div>

Simone Veil

<div><strong>Wealthy heir</strong> of the famous American banker John Pierpont Morgan, this lover of France <strong>helped the people of Aisne</strong> particularly affected by the Great War. In 1917, she and her friend Anne Murray Dike created the <strong>American Committee for Devastated Regions (CARD)</strong>.</div>

Anne Morgan

<div>This portrait of a young romantic-looking girl, made <strong>after an old postcard</strong>, is the first work of C215 in Soissons. In June 2017, with the theft of the door, the work was gone. On the powder magazine of the Arsenal, it is again in the spotlight on the site of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes.
</div>

La Dame de Soissons

<div>From 1668, the painter Pieter Boel from Antwerp<strong> practiced at the Royal Menagerie </strong>of Louis XIV at Versailles. He painted <strong>animals from different points of view </strong>and attitudes and works on the rendering of fur. These rabbits are extracted from a work of his hand exposed in the museum Saint-Léger.</div>

Les Lapins

<div>This Burgundian princess became&nbsp;<strong>Queen of the Franks by marrying Clovis</strong> around 493 in Soissons. Her Christian upbringing, the advice and the protection granted by the bishop Saint Remi of Reims favored the conversion of Clovis.</div>

Clotilde

<div><strong>His childhood in the Valois</strong> left a mark on his literary works as well as his travels in Europe and the East. Friend of Théophile Gautier,<strong> he rubs shoulders with the great figures of Romanticism.</strong> From 1841, his hallucinations and his fits of madness inspire his writings but also lead him to end his life.</div>

Gérard de Nerval

<div>A lot of street artists choose a city animal, representative of them, as their emblem or their signature. <strong>C215 for his part, has chosen cats</strong>. He appreciates their muteness and their mysterious vibe.</div>

Le Chat

<div><strong>The Adoration of the Shepherds</strong> of the Flemish baroque painter Pierre Paul Rubens is visible in the cathedral. The work was made around 1618-1620 in Antwerp, then sold <strong>to the bishop who sat in Soissons</strong> from 1624 to 1656. On the painting are the coat of arms of Soissons and those of the prelate.</div>

Pierre Paul Rubens

<div><strong>Active in the Resistance</strong> during the Second World War, he created the secret army commanded by General de Gaulle in October 1942, and became the first president of the National Council of Resistance. He was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo and died in prison in 1943.</div>

<div><strong>1979</strong>: 4 years after obtaining the presidency of the court of Tehran, she is forced to resign when conservative religious come to power, women no longer having the right to exercise this position. A <strong>human rights activist</strong>, <strong>Shirin Ebadi</strong> becomes the unofficial <strong>spokesperson for Iranian women</strong> and fights for a greater role in public life. <br><strong>1995</strong>: She founded the Iranian <strong>Organization for the Protection of the Rights of the Child</strong> and the <strong>Association of Human Rights Defenders in Iran</strong> in <strong>2001</strong>.<br>Sentenced to imprisonment in&nbsp;<strong>2001&nbsp;</strong>for revealing the violence of religious extremists drawing world attention to human rights violations in Iran.</div>

Shirin Ebadi

<div><strong>The youngest son of Clovis and Clotilde</strong>, he became the only king of Francia (Frankish Empire) in 558 and kept Soissons as his capital. <strong>He founded the abbey Saint-Médard</strong> where he would be buried. A carved portrait of Clotaire I is exhibited in the local history room of the Saint-Léger museum of Soissons.&nbsp;<br><br></div>

Clotaire 1er

Je Suis Charlie

<div><strong>This Venetian painter, sensitive to the Baroque style</strong>, became known throughout Europe in the eighteenth century thanks to large decorative ensembles and his mythological and allegorical works. Two large paintings for the College of Oratorians of Soissons are among the treasures of the museum Saint-Léger.&nbsp;<br><br></div>

Alexandre par Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini

<div><strong>Chief of the French Resistance</strong> during the Second World War, General de Gaulle is also the founder of the Fifth Republic, of which he is <strong>the first president in 1958</strong>. Soissons is the starting point of his official trip to Picardy from 11 to 14 June 1964 .</div>

Charles de Gaulle

<div><strong>Born in Fère-en-Tardenois</strong>, she spent her childhood not far from Soissons in Villeneuve-sur-Fère before starting her career as a sculptor. Her passion for <strong>Auguste Rodin</strong>, to whom she was pupil, assistant, mistress and muse, led her to madness and internment.</div>

Camille Claudel

<div>Ever since her fur business on the Rue Saint-Martin in Soissons, this résistante participated from 1940 with her husband Jean Vogel in the "La Vérité Française" network. Imprisoned several times and deported to Ravensbrück in 1944, she bore the aftermath of deportation for the rest of her life.<br>She passed away on 12 September 2018.</div>

Germaine Vogel 

<div><strong>He is the son of Charles Martel</strong> and the father of Charlemagne. In 751 he was <strong>proclaimed king in Soissons</strong>. By ousting the last Merovingian king, he laid the foundations of the Carolingian dynasty. Until the end of his reign, the Soissonais is a privileged place of royalty.</div>

Street Art Cities

Christian Guemy

Artworks

Collaborations

Archived