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Published on Thursday, 03 July 2008 19:00 | | 
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Blek Le Rat has elevated graffiti to a genuine art form says Geraldine Royds
A legendary figure in street art, French Graffitti artist Blek Le Rat was born Xavier Prou in Paris in 1951. His unique, complex and intelligent work first began appearing on the streets in the 1980s, and began with thousands of rats scampering through the centre of Paris before invading other French cities.
Then he invented the life-sized stencil – Princess Diana, Beggar, David with machine gun – strong images, in surprising places, which still haunt the city.Last year he pasted up hundreds of posters of
Florence Aubenas, a French
journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq, in order to provoke a reaction and aid
her release. Although he says his art is not political, Blek has always used it
to bring the gallery walls to the people and to change the way we interact with
the urban spaces around us.
Every major stencil artist today has been influenced by his unique style, including Banksy, who says, 'Every time I think I've painted something original, I find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only twenty years earlier.'
‘My images are suitable for everyone. Some graffiti artists want to destroy the city, but I’m not like that,’ says Blek Le Rat. ‘My images are a present I make for everyone.’