Spring has finally come around and I’ve been inspired by SAMA’s street art collection and my own research to visit other cities with new eyes. Since we just opened Capital Crisis: Mokum Meets Paris, I decided to revisit Paris to look for connections to Amsterdam. It was easy to navigate around by using SAMA’s experience at the 13 Art Fair and see Paris as a different sort of tourist. A bright colored poster caught my eye as I was walking near the Bastille , its familiar bubbly figures lighting up my face. “Chanoir!” I exclaimed.
The same artist who tagged up our Love Letter to Amsterdam scroll with their funny cats was being exhibited in a gallery space, and had I not become so familiar with it I never would have known. It was cool to think that I had worked with SAMA’s own Chanoir pieces in the city I called home, and to now see where they originated gave a whole new meaning to the idea that street art is this living, breathing movement that pops up in the most delightful places.
I wondered about the other tags and art I would see around the city, thinking if what their creators were thinking when they selected a space or image. Was the quick nature of the street art more romantic and uniquely French? How did these images compare with the styles of home grown artists in Amsterdam? I left with many questions that will go beyond a weekend in Paris, and I look forward to seeing the next city street art takes me to.