SHARRYLAND
The Street Art of Abraham Clet
When art makes a foray into the places of everyday city life
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What he is and where he is
Abraham Clet is a street artist. He makes urban installations "as an indispensable alternative to institutional art" and spreads his message by putting stickers on street signs around the city. The images inscribe themselves into the sign without changing its legibility, but connoting it with an 'other' meaning. The space of the city is thus reinvented by the creative genius of this French artist, in Italy since 1990 and active in Florence and other Italian and European cities.
Why he is special
Irreverent, ironic, provocative: the stickers designed by Abraham Clet transform with cutting sarcasm the message conveyed by the street signs on which they are applied. It is curious to walk through the streets of Florence and glimpse here and there, between a famous monument and an ancient church, the traces of his passage. But while Clet's artistic interventions entertain, they also force reflection, an ironic questioning of obligations and prohibitions to which we generally submit.
Not to be missed
If you are in Florence, Clet's studio at 8 Via dell'Olmo is worth a visit. It is a small room with an informal flavor, crowded with installations, street signs, stickers, postcards, original works, reproductions, sheets, sketchy projects and tools of the trade: a chaotic microcosm in perfect balance. No prohibition: it is open to all and admission is free.
Curiosities
Some installations such as Common Man and Crucified Man have brought the artist not a few problems. The reaction from the authorities resulted in the removal of his works and fines of up to more than 10,000 euros. But Clet is not giving up. He writes, "Increasingly invaded by road signs, urban space must make itself reversible, add meanings to the original ones, orient other and new degrees of reading."
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