Blek Le Rat
Blek le Rat was born Xavier Prou in Paris in 1952. He studied painting and architecture. Since then he has had a great influence on today’s graffiti and ‘Guerilla Art’ movements. He began his artwork in Paris in 1981. British graffiti artist Banksy has acknowledged Blek le Rat's influence saying “every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I find out the Blek Le Rat has done it as well, only twenty years earlier”.
Blek Le Rat was one of the first graffiti writers in Europe; one of the first people to use stencils to make public art on the street; one of the first—if not the first—to break away from the dominance of New York graffiti style; and one of the first to use icons instead of writing his name.
