His name originates from the comic book Blek le Roc, using 'rat' as an anagram for 'art'. He described the rat as 'the only free animal in the city', and one which 'spreads the plague everywhere, just like street art'.

Xavier Prou was born on 15 November 1952 in Boulogne-Billancourt in the western suburbs of Paris.īlek began his artwork in 1981, painting stencils of rats on the walls of Paris streets. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the 'Father of stencil graffiti'.

His pal Shepard Fairey, who designed President Obama's 'Hope' poster, has said of Prou: 'Blek le Rat's stencils distill the essence of the human struggle into poetically concise images.Blek le Rat (pronounced born Xavier Prou, 1952) is a French graffiti artist. Several lithographs present violinists and ballet dancers, while he has also made a limited number of lithographs depicting President Obama. His latest exhibit riffs on a recurring theme of tango dancers, which he first painted in 1986.

'It’s very important to be in the street, but also very important for artists to show different work in the gallery.' 'Its absolutely incredible having a really good piece in the street - the day after it is complete thousands and thousands of people have seen it,' Prou explained. The illegal nature of Prou's work and the growing legitimization of street art has led him to exhibit in galleries with greater frequency. (Prou started stenciling rats around Paris in 1981, when Banksy, whose identity is rumored but not confirmed, was reportedly just in grade school.) 'Every time I think I've painted something slightly original, I find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier,' Banksy is widely quoted as saying.

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