France
•
1961
• 1977 followers
Pioneering street artist known for his iconic white silhouette symbolizing light, strength, and peace.
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Jerôme Mesnager joined the École Boulle in 1974, where he followed the cabinetmaking course, and where he stayed as a teacher. In 1979, he joined Yves Got's and Georges Pichard's comics course. The two were teaching at the Duperré School.
In 1982, he co-founded Zig-Zag, a group of very young artists who decided to take over the streets by drawing graffiti and to occupy abandoned factories through artistic performances.
On January 16, 1983, he invented the man in white, "a symbol of light, strength and peace". Jerôme Mesnager drew this white silhouette in the entire world: from the walls of Paris to theChinese Wall.
In 1990, the artist left his parent's house and moved to Paris. He showed works drawn on wooden fences at the Loft gallery, and published a catalog of these works. In 1995, he produced a large mural painting in the Ménilmontant street in Paris, "C'est nous les gars de Ménilmontant".
Jerôme Mesnager is often associated with Nemo, a character with a black silhouette wearing a raincoat and a hat. He was part of the Paris street art scene, with artists such as Blek le rat, Miss Tic, Jef Aérosol, Némo, etc. and of the Free Figuration movement in the early 80s.
In 2006, he produced a series of paintings inspired by art nouveau and art deco. The same year, hedrew his white characters in the Hôtel des Academies et des Arts in Paris.
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