Before street art ever became a category at an auction house, or even before it had been given its moniker, Blek le Rat was painting his stencil graffiti on the walls of Paris.
A pioneer of the stencil movement, Blek wanted to create a graffiti style that would befit the historical buildings in the French capital after seeing the freehand throw ups in New York. Frequently mentioned as an influence by many artists - including Banksy, who he shares a love for stencilling rats with, and Shepherd Fairey - he first became widely known for his images of the French journalist Florence Aubenas who was kidnapped in 2005 in Iraq, which he put up around Paris during her captivity.
His work is often striking, thought-provoking social commentary which conveys messages with simple stencil cut images of soldiers, the homeless or even of himself carrying his work in a bag.
