An island of street art in Pantin unlike any other: Le 27 Pantin

Street art in Pantin, in the north of Paris, can be found everywhere; but a concentration of frescoes & graffiti by thirty recognised artists is quite rare. Even rarer when it takes place in a housing estate, and when the project is led by two women who live there every day. Eva Greiffemberg from La Maison du projet and Fanny Carlotti, Director of the kindergarten in the centre of the block, have rolled up their sleeves and succeeded, with the help of partners, in transforming this housing estate into a beautiful place for artistic experimentation.

 

 

L’îlot 27 a Street Art city like no other

When we enter the city through a huge porch, we are greeted by a veritable art gallery. The posts surrounding us are all covered with works of art created by the artists who participated in the project. We immediately understand that this is not a city like the others! Moreover, the atmosphere is peaceful and we feel good.

 

The inhabitants smile at the idea of seeing us walk through their homes. We really feel that the project has united them and that they take great care of their environment. The discovery of the place is a pleasure for the eyes; giant frescos share the walls with structured graffiti.

 

Like a child’s song

Street art in Pantin made me fall back into childhood for a moment. When I saw the fresco created by Rémi Cierco and Claks One, I couldn’t help but hum an old Pierre Perret song: “Give us gardens to do silly things in, where we come back with little flowers in our hands, when we’ve torn our shirt…”.

 

 

Strange, strange, because as you know a city is rather concrete! But here I had just lost myself in the fresh nature of the artist LOUYZ. Her huge flaming bird and her savannah lizard must have had an impact on my subconscious for me to start humming such a song! As we all know, art influences our mental state and I forgot the concrete of the city for a moment.

 

 

Other works, such as Zach Oréo’s crazy teddy bears or the characters of Géraud Delort, aka Don Pablo, give 27 Pantin a touch of the enchanted island.

 

 

 

A beautiful palette of contrasting works for this block 27

Certainly some artists were influenced by the nursery school in the centre of the city, but not all! 27 Pantin shows very different styles, which sometimes offers striking contrasts. The soft faces painted by Manyoly collide with the black and white fresco by Théo Haggaï. A magnificent fresco that invites us to solidarity and to live together. In spite of its very raw contrast, it reminds me of a peace mandala with a very soft ending.

 

 

 

The astonishingly round faces of Kashink, who campaigns for gender equality, also provide a striking contrast to the variable-geometry characters of the artist DacRuZ.

 

 

 

On the slab, in the heart of the city, we find the same oppositions. Yellow has created a very “Zulu nation” work, very colourful, using the codes of the Japanese print and warrior. On the back of this work we find a wave of softness with the work of Coralie LR.

 

 

 

I’m going to end this paragraph with my favourite of 27 Pantin, yes I decided to make in each article a small focus on the work that touched me the most. I selected the one by the artist Djalouz for two reasons. The first one: the theme of union and peace which seems to me to be essential to live better together and which is really undermined in our more and more brutal society. The second: I have always admired the 3D writing of this artist and in this work he combines anamorphic and 3D lettering with remarkable ease. I’m not going to tell you that I find this work perfect, because perfection only exists in our dreams, but it’s not far from it 😉 I have only put one side of the work on display for you to see when you come to Pantin!

 

 

Beautiful graffiti embellish the discovery

A street art visit in Pantin or elsewhere without graffiti never makes me happy!

Some of the artists I mentioned above define themselves as graffiti artists, even though they are increasingly creating large-scale frescoes and moving away from old-style graffiti or even stylized lettering. You are supposed to know that I love this practice and each time I discover a new place, new typographies come to question my look. This time it was the ultra-stylized word renaissance, like an Italian bas-relief, that caught my eye. This four-handed work by Nawak & Namasté is a good description of what has happened in îlot 27 thanks to this Street Art project. This city no longer looks like a city at all, and no tags have been used to damage the works!

 

 

In a more urban style, the signatures of graffiti artists Mizer and Orage can also be found.

 

 

 

You must find it strange that there are no tags on the premises, because Pantin is full of graffiti crews… But in fact, there is respect between graffiti artists. If you look at the bottom right-hand corner of Zach Oréo‘s work, you’ll see the names of two graffiti crews who work in the area. A clever wink.

 

How and why go and enjoy street art in Pantin?

To be honest, you can go and discover Le 27 Pantin on your own or with someone else; there’s nothing to worry about! The entrance is at 21 rue Auger in Pantin (few steps from Paris) and it will take you a good hour to see all the works. But I strongly advise you to visit on a Sunday accompanied by the excellent Sigismond who with his words and his love of urban art will allow you to take the real dimension of this incredible project and the link it has created between the inhabitants and also with the artists. The visit is free, but you’ll love it so much that you’ll want to slip something in his hand and he’ll tell you a few places to visit around block 27 😉 To get the dates you can contact them on Facebook or Instagram and they will answer you with great pleasure! Besides, it’s really the time to go there because the artists are currently at work and are coming to embellish the place a bit more! If I insist on recommending this place to you, it is simply because it is the proof that one can transform a city, a rather sad living space into a pleasant place to live. With willpower everything is possible and I have rarely experienced such a peaceful “city”. Even in Vitry-sur-Seine, where street art is very present, the welcome is not really the same!

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See you soon under the Italian sun

Séverine