Levalet

by Open Walls on
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Biography

Resting on the banks of river Seine, Paris is one of the world’s most famous museum capitals, a place with endless cultural places of interest. Ever since the 1980s, a very lively Urban Art scene has been thriving in the French capital, offering an alternative to classical art venues. Springing from a rich history of urban interventions and dressed in the most daring conceptual designs, street art in Paris has over time become a paramount display of diversity of styles and expressions, a trait it kept to this day. A member of the group of contemporary artists active in the Parisian realm, Charles Leval, better known as Levalet, is a visual creator whose career has been on a steady rise in recent years. As a young artist, Levalet is already well known on the streets of the City of Light for the playful, witty images he executes through paste up and collage.

From Epinal to the French Capital

Charles Leval was born in 1988 in Epinal, northeastern France. He spent his childhood in Guadeloupe, surrounded by the rich Franco-Caribbean culture. In this cultural melting pot, he discovered the graffiti culture when he was a young teenager. At the age of 17, Levalet moved to Strasbourg to study painting and animation. Interested in video installations located on the streets, the young artist developed a style that focuses on an interaction between the subject of the artworks and the dimensions and features of the space they are in. However, it wasn’t until he moved to Paris in 2012 that he truly started to work as a street artist. Going by the name Levalet, he became famous for his filling of concrete recesses and jagged sidewalks with black-and-white characters.

Site-Specific Street Art by Levalet

Working mostly in the streets of Paris, this professor of visual arts has the same process every time he goes looking for new corners for his art. First, he wanders around the city, investigating the site itself and taking precise measurements, so he can create a life-sized scene in line with the location. Once an idea is born, he makes preparatory sketches and then creates the designs that will serve as the basis for his paste-up drawings. After the elaborate planning, he draws figures in black ink and pastes them on their designated places around the city. The artist’s realistic paste-ups almost integrate themselves into the urban landscape by producing an optical illusion. These site-specific pieces in black and white often utilize street objects such as staircases, house entrances or the ledges of buildings as furniture, which makes the public space an essential element of his work. Levalet’s dynamic subjects lean, sit, hang and lie down on the surfaces they are pasted on as if they were indeed a part of the street. He even incorporates mundane objects like books, pool cues, wine glasses and umbrellas in his pieces achieving a rather whimsical, but clever result. Even through Levalet’s characters are entertaining and enjoyable, they possess a strong dose of social critique as well, a layer which unveils itself only upon careful observation.

Studio Works and Collaboration with OPEN WALLS Gallery

Developing his street art, Levalet primarily focuses on the actual space that his pieces will have to fit into. However, in the work he creates in the studio, the artist places more importance on the DIY nature of pieces. He then further explores combinations of objects, various materials, and versatility of drawn figures. Since 2013, Charles Leval’s work has been exhibited numerous times in Paris, France both on the streets and within galleries. His oeuvre has been on display in various solo and group shows abroad, in Germany, Spain, Malaysia, Italy, Singapore, and Denmark, and he took part in many international festivals. The French artist has recently joined the group of highly talented creatives represented by OPEN WALLS Gallery and his latest works have been featured in a solo exhibition titled “Little Boxes” in November 2016.

Selected exhibitions

  • 2016 · Little Boxes · Solo Show · OPEN WALLS Gallery, Berlin (GER)
  • 2016 · Everyday Life Circus · Solo Show · Openspace Gallery, Paris (FR)
  • 2016 · Recto-Verso · Duo Show avec Zenoy · Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris (FR)
  • 2016 · Du Noir au Blanc · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · One Step Forward, Two Steps Back · Solo Show · Montana Gallery, Barcelona (ES)
  • 2015 · Grand Opening · Collective Exhibition · Galerie Openspace, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · 8e Avenue, Salon, Champs Elysées · Galerie Brugier-Rigail, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Strange is Beautifull · Collective Exhibition · Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · La Chute · Solo Show · Galerie Brugier-Rigail, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Street Fans · Collective Exhibition · Musée de L’Eventail, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Zoo · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Le Noir Est Une Couleur · Collective Exhibition · Joel Knafo art gallery, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Crossing · Solo Show · Memorie Urbane, Fondi (IT)
  • 2015 · Cheap · Art Festival · Bologne (IT)
  • 2015 · Different Strokes · Collective Exhibition · George town, Penang (MY)
  • 2015 · Drawing Now, Salon · Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Urban Art · Collective Exhibition · Artcurial, Paris (FR)
  • 2015 · Bestiaire · Collective Exhibition · Le Paris Urbain, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Vis à Vis · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Paysages Intérieurs · Duo Show (avec Pascal Vilcollet) · Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Figures · Collective Exhibition · Joël Knafo art Gallery, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Abomey-Paris-Abomey · Collective Exhibition · Salon Marboeuf, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Dali Fait Le Mur · Collective Exhibition · Espace Dali, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Nuart · Art Festival · Stavanger (NO)
  • 2014 · Collective Street 2 · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Keep Calm and Love Street Art · Collective Exhibition · Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Croix Rouge · Collective Exhibition · Maison de Vente Fauve, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Memorie Urbane · Art Festival · Gaëta (IT)
  • 2014 · Bagages · Solo Show · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Collective Exhibition · Kirk Gallery, Aalborg (DK)
  • 2014 · Wall Street · Collective Exhibition · Bastille Design Center, Paris (FR)
  • 2014 · Project M3 · Collective Exhibition · Musée Urban Nation, Berlin (DE)
  • 2014 · Singapore Art Stage · Art Fair · Singapour (SG)
  • 2014 · 1,2,3 Enfance · Collective Exhibition · Space Pierre Cardin, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Levalet, Scènes de Rue · Solo Show · NUNC! Gallery, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Opus Délit Show · Collective Exhibition · Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Tomber la Veste · Installation · Les prairies de Paris, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Black/Blanc · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Small is Beautifull · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Collective Street · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Corps à Corps · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Allégories · Solo Show · NUNC! Gallery, Grenoble, France (FR)
  • 2013 · Bestiarium Urbanus · Collective Exhibition · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)
  • 2013 · Coups de Sommeil · Solo Show · Le Cabinet D’Amateur, Paris (FR)