JANE RUSSELL

“I like provocation and shock images. It's my main source of inspiration, with music that is downright vital for me”

Born in 1966, YARPS is an early Parisian stencil artist. Palindrome of SPRAY, his surname has been known for years on the artistic scene of the capital.

It all started in 1985 when he stumbled upon beautiful graffiti on the premises of a famous Parisian radio station. "It was beautiful, but the stencil is different and it immediately appealed to me. There is the side "well & quickly done" which is completely adequate to intervene in the street quickly.

YARPS has always had admiration for the graffiti artists of the 80s who covered Paris with their creations. His favorite subjects are film figures in anthology movies (Clint Eastwood in "Inspector Harry", Gérard Jugnot in "Santa Claus is a junk", Marylin Monroe in "Seven years of reflection"). The characters are watching the viewer with big calibers ... while the pin-ups show their firecracker.

YARPS likes to hijack well-known titles, slogans or replicas like "NATURAL BORN SPRAYER" or "YES WE SPRAYCAN". Over time, his stencils evolve towards collage. YARPS directly sprays pages of old newspapers or selected books according to his favorite themes.

"There is a real moment of happiness and wonder when you remove the matrix after the spraying and you discover the final result."