L'ATLAS
Retrospective2
The French artist, Jules Dedet Granel, aka L’Atlas, born in 1978, found in his research around writing the starting point for his work in the fine and pictorial arts. He studied calligraphy in different countries and cultures, in this way creating his own original fonts. He was particularly interested in the idea of creating a universal pictorial language, a balance between form and letter, between act and intent; a game with endless variations, drawing near and diverging from optical art and the abstract and geometric art movements. In the 90s, he took radical action in the public sphere, making a name for himself in the field of graffiti; as of 2000, he developed studio work and exhibited his works in contemporary urban art galleries.
A major figure and internationally renowned street artist, he is known for his painted facades and for his monumental performances carried out directly on the ground on historical sites in cities, like with the immense compass commissioned by the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 2008, or at the Place du Capitole in 2012, in partnership with the city of Toulouse. These performances are captured frame by frame by the artist in video recordings.
He has also collaborated with brands such as Perrier whose mythical bottles he adorned with “Poptic’art”, a movement mixing optical and pop art that he is considered to have coined; and Agnès b, adding his touch to the clothes of the designer, one of his most loyal collectors.
L’Atlas is unique in that he researches and systematically renews his approach and his expression of the letter and the line, of the codified rhythm of writing, searching for the limits of illegibility and methodically leading his work towards abstraction and minimalism; he considers all form as letter and all letter as form, which has recently led him to work with urban planners to give a third dimension to his art and reinvest the public space in another way, thus restoring meaning to the architectural dimension of his work.
Today he is an artist whose rigorous work justifies the success he has met with collectors, the public and institutions.
L'ATLAS
Born in 1978. Lives and work in Paris, France.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2018. Optical Graffiti. Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris
2018. Dichotomie. Station 16, Montreal
2018. Remember The Day. Galerie Bobino – Langlais, La Baule
2018. Eternals Signs. Galerie Martine Ehmer, Bruxelles
2018. Seal. Art Works Gallery, Seoul
2017. Cryptograms. Wunderkarmmern Gallery, Milano
2017. Fades & Drips. At Down Gallery, Montpellier
2017. Dissolutions. Speerstra Gallery, Bursin
2017. Imperial Letters. Guerlain Champs Elysées, Paris
2016. Overgrown. Galerie Martine Ehmer, Bruxelles
2016. Squares. Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, Lille
2015. Phosphenes.Lelia Mordoch Gallery, Miami
2014. Transversal. Wunderkammern, Rome
2014. Shapes. Galerie Catherine Ahnell, New York
2013. Extractions. Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris
2013. Sfumato. Galerie Martine Ehmer, Bruxelles
2013. Géodésie. Percept Gallery, Lyon
2013. Structures. Galerie Cédric Bacqueville, Lille
2012. Persistence. Galerie Lebenson, Paris
2012. Inks, Galerie Lorenzetti, Lyon
2011. Morphologie. Galerie David Bloch. Marrakech
2011. Punitions. Skalitzers Contemporary. Berlin
2010. L’ATLAS IS HERE. Mois de la Photo Off, Galerie G, Paris
2009. City fragments. Gallery Nine5, New York
2009. The way of art. ESA, Paris
2008. D’un monde l’autre. Galerie Il trifolio Nero, Gênes
2008. Cosmic Graffiti. Espace Beaurepaire, Paris
2007. I WAS HERE. Galerie Beaubourg, Paris
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2018. Destination 131. Forum Des Halles, Paris
2018. Summer End. Galerie Géraldine Zberro, Paris
2018. The Night Promise. iDroom, Geneva
2018. Tandem. Royal Monceau, Paris
2018. Art Illegal. Espace Contemporain Rhône Alpes, Valence
2018. Breakage. Cox Gallery, Bordeaux
2018. Substances. Vroom & Varossieau Gallery, Amsterdam
2017. Names. Speerstra Gallery, Paris
2017. Abstract Gesture. Galerie Brugier Rigail, Paris
2017. Lines & Letters. Cox Gallery, Bordeaux
2016. The Great Graffiti. Seoul Art Center. Seoul
2016. French Connections. Speerstra Gallery, Bursins
2016. France In. Yoojin gallery, Busan
2016. Highlight. Galerie Zimmerling & Jungfleish, Saarbrücken
2016. Inedit. Galerie David Pluskwa, Marseille
2016. Les lumières de la ville, galerie Lelia Murdoch, Paris
2016. French Connections. Galerie LJ Beaubourg and Speerstra Gallery, Paris
2015. Oxymores, Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Paris
2015. 50 ans d’art urbain à Paris. Galerie du crédit municipal, Paris
2014. L’Atlas & Morran Ben Lahcen. Fondation Ona, Villa des arts de Casablanca, Casablanca
2013. Paralells. Fabien Castanier Gallery, Los Angeles
2013. Urban Renewal, Martine Ehmer, Bruxelles
2013. Cycles. Art Factory, Saint-Denis (La Réunion)
2012. Lumières et géométries. Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris
2012. Au delà du Street Art. Musée de la Poste, Paris
2012. Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse
2012. White wall, Beirut Art Center, Beyrouth
2012. Vasarely vous a à l’œil, Musée en Herbe, Paris
2011. Gradations. Galerie Lebenson, Paris
2011. L’Atlas vs Tanc. Alliance française de New Delhi
2010. Strates. Maison des Arts, Créteil
2009. Etats des lieux. Galerie du jour, Paris
2009. Né dans la rue – Graffiti. Fondation Cartier, Paris
2009. Collection Gallizia. Grand Palais – Paris
2007. Graphology. Palais de Tokyo, Paris
2006. Synapses. Musée du Montparnasse, Paris
2004. L’invention du monde. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
2001. Street Art. Galerie du Jour, Paris
PERFORMANCES
2017. Rays @ Maison de la Radio w/ TANC, Paris
2016. Urvanity, Madrid
2015 – 2016. Extraordinaire perrier, New York City, Paris, Séoul, Mexico City.
2012. L’histoire est à moi!, Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse
2011. Performance avec la ville de Paris sur la place du Palais royal, en partenariat avec le Musée en Herbe et la galerie Lebenson
2010. Surfaces actives. Alliance Française et Cultures France. New Delhi
2009. Surfaces actives. Art Beijing. Pékin
2008. Ne perds pas le nord. Fi’Art / Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris