The Death of Macho, Blek le Rat
Acrylic on canvas, 210cm x 130cm
Provenance: Metro Gallery, Melbourne.
French artist Blek Le Rat is a pioneer in the graffiti art world, and includes Banksy amongst his fans. One of the first true street artists, he began by using stencils instead of stylised lettering for graffiti. He became known for his giant graphic stencil of a rat that appeared all over Paris. The rat, symbolised both freedom and spread of art through the city as if it were a plague. More recently, his work has taken a political angle, directed towards the environment and other social issues (1).