If you happen to visit the 13th district of Paris, you will not miss a series of strange scenes that adorn its walls. These forms are drawn by none other than Levalet, whose real name is Charles Leval, using India ink. This street art comes across as quirky, but at the same time, thought-provoking.
Levalet’s childhood days were spent in Guadeloupe, France. By the age of 13, he had started to paint. When he was 17, he moved to Paris and went on to study art at the Beaux-Arts in Strasbourg. Although equally adept at photography, sculpting and painting, and passionate about theatre, he decided to pursue visual arts.
Levalet creates his life-size characters, based on photographs, self-portraits and even cinema characters, which seem to interact with the bystanders. Needless to say, his illusions transport the viewers to his world of charming and fictional reality.
This French artist has certainly developed his personal style and his amazing street art, displayed on the walls, is the testimony to his creativity and imagination. Always passionate about other forms of art, his works have elements of theatre and painting in them.
He also possesses a keen eye for topography. Says he, “ Topography is very important for me, this is why I always check a place out before I work on it, I try to mix the world of representation with the real world by playing on the physical cohesion of the situations I put up. The architecture supports my work. Then I work on staging the artwork with photographs.” His site-specific scenes are certainly awe-inspiring.
Levalet
Instagram | Website | Facebook