Monsieur Plume | Painting on the Edge

Monsieur Plume is not your average writer. Dynamic and bold, his work makes use of loose, gestural strokes and drips to create a strong sense of energy and motion, drawing the viewer into his distorted portraits and figures. Equally as comfortable in the street, the gallery, and the classroom, he carries a strong sense of social awareness throughout all aspects of his work—from illegal pieces, to exhibitions, and educational workshops. His subject matter is no exception either. From addicts, detainees, and the homeless, Plume paints those existing on the marginalized edges of society, and his works is a rection to the people who inhabit or pass through each environment he works in.

“Back in the day,” he says, “I used graffiti to unload my mind after working with prisoners and people in distress. I represented them on a large scale, and openly tried to shock people.” Lately, Plume’s work has evolved from illustrative characters into a more abstract, representational style—one that draws on his recent travels, and the minimalist geometry of urban architecture for inspiration.

Born in the Loire Valley in France, Monsieur Plume grew up in a working class neighbourhood in the town of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. His first foray into graffiti came in 1998, inspired by a fanzine named “Languages de Rue Volume 1.” A far cry from today’s hyper-connected digital culture, the transmission of styles, concepts, and skills in those days was through word-of-mouth, or print magazines, often shared hand to hand. But things have rapidly changed since then. The advent of the internet “wiped out the underground system in which graffiti evolved for years,” Plume says. “Graffiti was a closed, forbidden, scary, and exciting movement. Today, you just send a Facebook message to get in touch with whoever you fancy, and see all their work in a few mouse clicks.” 

Inspired by illegal bombing culture, Plume began tagging in 1998. Soon afterwards, upon meeting collaborator AIR at a work meeting, the two founded RAID CREW, which later grew to include many local street kids. In 2003, he began to create paintings, and held his first exhibition. Having moved to the countryside to attend a new school, the xenophobia and racism he experienced led him to see drawing as an alternative to getting caught up in negativity—that painting both indoors and outdoors could function as “an alternative to violence and exclusion.” And now, he’s trying to pay that lesson forward to others.

In his own way, Monsieur Plume is carrying on the oral tradition that lies at the heart of graffiti culture’s roots, spending much of his time facilitating community workshops in underprivileged areas, including jails, drop-in centres, re-schooling programs, and similar environments. “I do not teach art,” he says, “I pass on the social values and the ethics of graffiti. It’s more like a tool, an experience, and a new form of expression that people can catch and make their own.”

He recently spent two winter months in residence in a small village by the north fjords of Iceland, working on a project to create a “graphic response” to observations of the life of the town and the day-to-day activities of its citizens. During his research, Plume realized that the town had “no social place to meet, no traffic, and an invisible but solid boundary between the residency studio and the locals.” In response, he developed an interactive, participatory program with the community, beginning with a live painting performance, moving through a series of workshops, and culminating in the establishment of a legal graffiti wall available to everyone. “I felt that giving a free wall to the people was the greatest legacy that a graffiti artist could leave” he says. “It was a big success, knowing that a third of the village came by, and the day after you could see kids hanging around the studio asking for paint, and skating.”

Unfortunately, plans to replicate the project in France fell through, after difficulties wading through bureaucratic red tape to obtain public funding. After an interview with the regional art funding body, Plume says: “I was told I had no skills…that I wasn’t an artist, and in any case, that graffiti couldn’t be considered as art. So instead of discussing a people-oriented art project, I had to defend graffiti as a form of art, and of course didn't get the grant."

Sadly, this is a familiar story to those working in this genre. While the popularity of muralism has skyrocketed in the past few years, and inspired many new festivals in major cities around the globe, graffiti-related projects often struggle to find similar support from municipalities. “Graffiti is fighting for its survival as a form of art,” says Plume, “caught between the speculation of art collectors on one end, and maintaining its authenticity on the other.”

This particular idea has been shelved for now, but he’s keeping himself busy with many other projects on the go. In June 2014, he painted le MUR on rue Oberkampf in Paris, a departure from his typical subject matter, and one of his largest works to date in France. “[The heart] represents life,” he says about the project, “and lives there until the next person kills it.” He also co-organizes a festival called “Graffeurs au Chateau” in Crissay-sur-Manse village in France, a small event that intends to take graffiti out of its usual context, hosting 13 artists live painting at a 15th century castle.

In the near future, Plume is working towards opening a multi-purpose art space with a small group of friends, details of which are still under wraps for now. He’s also been commissioned to paint the interior of La Vapeur, a music venue in Dijon, France, and is launching a legal graffiti wall in Tours. In his personal work, he’s exploring everything from installations creating “imaginary skeletons out of different bones,” to using energy transducers to create graffiti. Keep him on your radar, as this innovative artist shows no signs of slowing down. 

 

Add comment