STeW (1978) | French | Street art
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STeW is a modern day samurai, an orientalist street artist using spray paint, stencil – that he defines as the contemporary print – and glue as weapons. He draws, cuts and pastes characters and animals from the Japanese folklore in the streets of Paris and on various urban materials he randomly recovers such as wooden panels or car doors. STeW owes his influence not only to the hours spent reading mangas Akira and Samurai Champloo, but also to his grandmother's Asian-style home interiors. Like Proust's madeleine, these souvenirs open the door to a whole new fantastic world that transfigures but pays his respect to the Japanese print masters' works.
STeW's 52 x 15 m blue heron place de Vénétie in Paris' Chinese district is one of the biggest French Street Art realisation to date. In retrospect, his parents must not be that upset for the tiny wall he "redesigned" in his room when he was 4...