Paris Opening: Mausolee with Lek x Sowat by Butterfly

While we were fiishing the last details of the Mausoleum ephemeral show, Butterfly paid us a surprise visit from London to cover our opening…

Mausolee - The show

On August 12, 2010,  French graffiti artists Lek and Sowat found an abandoned supermarket of 430,000sq. ft  in the north of Paris. For a year, in the greatest of secrets they invited forty French graffiti artists to collaborate and create an illegal graffiti Mausoleum.

As the monument  is not accessible for safety reasons, Lek and Sowat  recreated a few murals and installations in an abandoned apartment to share their experience with the public .

Mausolee - The show     Mausolee - The show

Mausolee - The show

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Mausolée: A Residence artistique in Paris

Source: My life on a bike

Last weekend an astonishing project called “Mausolée” was presented  by the French artists Sowat and Lek. In 2010 they found one abandoned supermarket ( 40.000 m2 in 4 floors) in the north of Paris, which was also, for a long time, the residence for homeless. The  abandoned building  was invaded and made an artistic residence by Lek and Sowat.

They invited 40 French graffiti artist and photographers, old and new school, to work with them for a day or a week. For a year, in a great secret they created the mausoleum. In the destroyed building with a lot of dirt,  abandoned  pieces of cars and personal objects from the homeless that  use to live there, the artists found a paradise for graffiti art: white walls.

Amazing and huge abstract and figurative graffiti was painted during the residence, putting the roots of the street art  in deep connections with its means of existence: sub-culture.

To present us this incredible project “Mausolée” the artists made a movie and a beautiful book (Mausolée – edited by Alternatives). Both were showed in a great installation, inspired by the artist residence and also with some objects that they captured from the abandoned supermarket. The exhibition took place in a 200m2 site under-construction residential building last weekend. Congratulations Sowat and Lek!

Insider View: ALËXONE

Source: blogaouane.net
Translated version here

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Superbe Ouvrage… qui raconte et documente, ce qui a le très juste titre « Résidence artistique sauvage »

Un ancien supermarché à Paris intramuros au bord du periph qui fût vidé de ces réserves puis de ses squateurs. le tout recouvert par la poussière du temps. et surtout vierge de toute peintures… Lek et Sowat en trouve une entrée et commence par y peindre… s’en suit une histoire de découverte et de peinture du lieux… petit à petit en y invitant des artistes tout en gardant le lieu secret, la résidence prends forme…
En gros un livre indispensable qui transpire, suffoque d’émotions et de peintures. Bien loin des livres sur les canons du graff’ et du street art sans âmes qui polluent les rayons des librairies ces dernières années. ce n’est pas non plus juste une compilation de peintres et peintures … mais une véritable aventure!

pour en savoir plus le site

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Vernissage / Opening

Vernissage: Jeudi 12 Avril 2012 à 18 heures

Ouverture: Vendredi 13, Samedi 14 Avril de 15 heures à 20 heures

RSVP  mausolee@hotmail.com

Adresse: 11 rue Marie-Andrée Lagroua-Weil-Halle, 75013 Paris
Métro/Rer: Bibliothèque François Mitterrand
Plan d’accès