MINDstyle will present the opening of street art pioneer Blek le Rat’s Enjoy Little Things in Life Thursday, December 24, 2020 in Shenzhen, China. Blek le Rat (Xavier Prou)—often celebrated as ‘The Father of Stencil Graffiti’—has created a body of work featuring his most iconic characters and subjects including his signature rats.
Beginning in 1981, Blek le Rat unleashed a rat invasion in his home town of Paris with a spark of creativity and a rat stencil. Rather than tagging his name or free-handing characters, his work pioneered the use of stencils in street art, a practice enabling rapid strike art with a high level of detail. His persistent and pervasive rats made him the first artist to be widely recognized for ushering in this new street art medium. Fittingly, the exhibition closes out this tumultuous ‘Year of the Rat’.
Blek le Rat’s ‘Enjoy Little Things in Life’, part of the Art & Toys Before Christmas event, will run from December 24, 2020 through January 6, 2021 at the PL+ Art Space @ QPlex in Shenzhen, China.