“Paris Humid”, series of 13, 650€

It seems like an evidence and yet it just happened. 13 bis is a street artist who creates huge murals on streets of the 20 th arrondissement where he lives. Like JR, he is anonymous and works with a hood and a mask so as not to be recognized. He is around 40, used to be a painter but ran out of money for the rent of his studio in Montreuil and decided to work on street walls. On the video where he is filmed gluing large photos, he looks slim and agile. He met the new directors of Roger-Viollet, the photo gallery which holds millions of negatives from the beginning of the XX th century to today. And they agreed to let him use any visual he fancied. The result is great fun with 31 collages of famous people and of his own imagination, printed in series of 13. And the pictures are all for sale at very reasonable prices.

“Cocteau Empreinte”, series of 13, 650€

13 bis is the number of the street where he met the neighbor with whom he devised his new career as a street artist. ” I started working in the street because I could not pay the rent for my studio in Montreuil any more”. He uses all kinds of material and support for his art, where nature, butterflies and insects play a large part in their ephemeral quality.

“L’Aquarium”, Collage, series of 13, 650€

Inspired by the surrealists, and Max Ernst in particular, for his collages, he also uses skateboards or canvases as a base. He shows a triptych in plexiglass in the gallery where icons of art history, such as Botticelli’s Venus, are used. 19 th century prints also inspire him. There is a mix of nowadays culture and classical masterpieces.

“The masked kiss”, wild street collage, photo 13 bis

There is definite poetry in this series of works, and one can see that ThirteenBis has a strong artistic culture. Each work is whimsical, some more erotic that others, and women are always beautiful. “Diane” a digital print with butterflies and a tree growing out of her head (1 200€), “La Coco” after Gabriel Chanel, “Trouble of vision” with three identical images, “Camera Lucida”, are all very sensuous. Even “Titi”, based on Edith Piaf, is pretty. “L’aquarium”, where two elegant ladies sip coffee or tea surrounded by fishes is particularly fun (650€).

Titi, based on Edith Piaf, series of 13, 650€

The exhibition is on until June 4, at Galerie Roger-Viollet, 6 rue de Seine. You can order photographs on their website. Prices range from 450€ to 6 000€ for the triptych. On May 5, at 8 pm, a sale of NFTs will take place on the website of Danae.io

You cannot miss Roger-Viollet at 6 rue de Seine anymore