BLEK LE RAT - AFTER THE APOCALYPSE

Two-colour screenprint on Arches paper, 300 gsm
Edition of 300
23 × 31 cm
58 × 52 cm framed
Signed and numbered by Blek le Rat
Original Certificate of Authenticity
2017

After the Apocalypse brings one of Blek le Rat’s most enduring motifs into a distinctly contemporary scene. The rat has been central to Blek’s practice since his earliest Paris stencils in 1981, and the artist has described it as both an anagram of ART and the animal he imagines surviving the apocalypse.

In this 2017 work, that idea reaches an almost literal conclusion. A solitary rat stands among the remains of a ruined city, phone raised to capture a selfie. The contrast creates an image that is immediately recognisable and darkly humorous, bringing together ideas of survival, spectacle and our instinct to document even the most extraordinary moments.

The work also connects two very different periods of Blek’s practice: the rat imagery that helped establish his visual language on the streets of Paris and the culture of smartphones and social media that now shapes contemporary life.

Produced as a signed and numbered edition of 300, After the Apocalypse is a compact example of the wit, social observation and instantly recognisable stencil language that have defined Blek le Rat’s work for more than four decades.

Professionally framed to 58 × 52 cm.

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