May 2009: China with Jef Aerosol

Jef Aerosol is to France as Barry McGee is to the States: a living legend of street art.  He began stenciling in 1982 and has dabbled in nearly every medium since then. From the Lille Art Fair and rock star portraits to spreading his “Sitting Kids” across the globe (I have one in my photo collection), Jef Aerosol is hard to pin down. He was kind enough to share his latest project with us. He writes: 

“Hi! I hardly have any time to write now, not even on my own web pages! I am so, so, so busy and overworked right now. Each minute is precious and I work from morning till late at night!”

“Monsieur Chat, L’Atlas and I didn't ‘pick’ China as our next trip. We were selected by CulturesFrance to go there, so it's an official trip.” “We'll paint live on 3 huge canvas walls (5 x 3 m) during the two opening days of Art Beijing, an art fair.” “Then we'll go to Chengdu where they have built big walls (2 walls, 15 x 2,50 m) for us. We may leave, but the murals will remain. Cheers, Jef”

For more photos, check his Flickr. Jef is on Facebook, MySpace, and has a new website coming soon. 

Thank you so much, Jef! I really appreciate your response in spite of your busy schedule. And finally, for all my Francophone readers, take a look at this clip from France3.