PARIS — Paris is getting a colorful splash of Olympic creative spirit with nearly 30 vibrant street art pieces that have popped up on bustling metro station walls, a large billboard at the airport and in front of City Hall.
One shows a drawing of French fencer Ysaora Thibus in action. Another has canoers paddling down the Seine River. Some others include people enjoying themselves in a busy district. The original art was spread throughout Paris and other nearby host cities around the Olympic and Paralympic sites.
"During this time of the Olympics, it's a lot of energy and people coming from all over the world," said New York native JonOne, who has lived in Paris for the past three decades and is viewed in the street art world as a graffiti pioneer. He's one of six renowned street artists from four continents whose work is currently on display at train stations, airports, taxis, digital screens and billboards.
The artists were selected through a campaign spearheaded by Visa to help support small businesses. They hail from France (Marko 93 and Olivia De Bona), Brazil (Alex Senna), Australia (Vexta) and the United States (Swoon).
"Why not use street art?" said JonOne, 60, whose artwork can be found in several places in Paris including the Palais Royal–Musee du Louvre station. It took two months with five collaborators to finish the blue, white and red abstract expressionist-style graffiti, which covers 250 square meters of the wall at the busy station.
"It projects a lot of energies and youth culture," he said. "It's a good moment to show our artwork."
The campaign was designed as an open-air exhibition curated by Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, an expert in urban art. The 28 pieces of original artwork will remain on display until September 8.
"Just like high-level athletes, artists share values of tolerance, open-mindedness, questioning and self-surpassing," said Lasserre, who has organized over 50 exhibitions with public and private institutions, including an exhibition at the Paris City Hall. "Associating art and sport is one of the cornerstones of Olympism."
Each creation highlights the spirit of the neighborhoods — such as Saint-Denis, Montmartre and Rue Montorgueil — capturing the vibrancy of cafes, bookstores and shops that have become an essential fabric of Paris and the wider Ile-de-France region. They can also be found at the airports of Lille, Lyon and Marseille, hosts of some Olympic events.
"We asked the artists to show us their version of Paris in the most authentic way," said Juan Arturo Herrera, a business administrator and marketing executive at Visa International. Last month, he carried the Olympic flame over a 200-meter course in eastern France.
"Street art is the most accessible of arts," he said. "It's universal. We've seen it for decades now in cities. It has made its way through museums and we wanted to bring it back out. We see this as the biggest exhibition of open-air art in the public space."
De Bona, a Parisian, feels proud to bring her artwork to her hometown, family and visitors from around the world.
"It was so moving," she said. "I see how the art makes my city so beautiful. It's a privilege to represent France for all these people who are coming to Paris from all over the world."
De Bona, 39, remembered when street art and graffiti were not widely accepted by the masses. But now, she's witnessed a positive shift in the perception and within the industry, which was once male-dominated.
"People need pictures in the streets," she said. "It needs to be welcoming the arts. We are the bridge between people who don't think it fits in the museum. We bring art to the people. This is our way to express ourselves and exist."
Marko 93 said his passion for street art kept him pushing through the words of skeptics. At a young age, he was intrigued by watching the evolution of graffiti during the 1980s hip-hop era in New York, which he called the "promised land" of graffiti.
"It's all about perseverance," said the 51-year-old during his live performance, painting a fencer along the Seine. "Art is also about perseverance. This passion pushes us to move forward and beyond our limits."
One day, JonOne would like to see arts reintroduced as competition at the Olympics.
Art competitions first came into fruition at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm ,with medals awarded in five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. The International Olympic Committee ended the competitions in the 1948 Games, and an attempt to bring it back was denied four years later.
"Artists are like athletes, too," JonOne said. "I respect athletes in basketball and runners. Art is not really a sport, but it should be included in the Olympics. Just surviving as an artist is an Olympic sport."
