In Le Havre, street-art hits the wall. It is one of the cities popular with graffiti artists and gluers, like Teuthis, a young thirty-year-old. He combines art and marine biology, and expresses himself through giant collages. We met him.
Teuthis vibrates in front of the sea. In his works, there is always a little nod to the marine world: one day, an octopus, the next day, a mandarin fish. A street-artist who quickly abandoned spray paint for collage. A more tolerated practice and “achievable in a short time“.
As a child, with his family, he had fun turning over rocks to catch crabs. Today, he draws them in his intimate studio, on long sheets of paper and sticks them, in XXL format, on the walls of his city.
In the street, the thirty-something works for him, for his pleasure and his passion. Otherwise, he earns his living through exhibitions in galleries.
When he receives us in his district of Le Havre, near the small port, cap on his head, he is on the move. Between two questions, his eye does not leave the facade he has chosen. That afternoon, it was here that he decided to bring his work to life: a gigantic spider crab.
Minutes are precious. No question of attracting the attention of the police. This adrenaline motivates and excites him. That day, Teuthis did not escape the eyes of the port security guards… A quick identity check, this time, it worked. He even obtains permission to finish his drawing. “It’s still not the same flavor when it’s a legitimate work, but it’s cool anyway!“, he jokes.
In college and high school, Teuthis frequents vacant lots with his friends. Some graffiti to his credit. Baccalaureate in hand, the 30-year-old is pursuing studies in marine biology in Paris and Roscoff in Finistère. He surveys the libraries, devours the books devoted to the sea and all the illustrations that have become “dusty“.
I wanted to mix them with a more contemporary, more graphic style. I used the codes of naturalistic drawing, while giving them a new side.
The choice of the wall is as important as the brush for a painter. The spot should not go unnoticed. “The best is when there is a lot of traffic, with cars, so people have no choice but to take it in the eye“.
In Le Havre, the world of street-art is quite small, we are a group of friends. There is a little competition, knowing who will take the best spot, that’s what I like.
When he sticks, perched on his ladder, he is always invaded by an excitement. “How long will my collage hang ?”. If his life expectancy is two or three days, the artist keeps his spirits up. “It’s the game, there are still quite a few that remain. If it lasts a week, so much the worse, if it lasts two years, so much the better”.
Accompanied by his mobile phone, he captures each of his works to keep track and bring his work to life on the internet. One day he hopes to publish a book with all these photos. In the meantime, he posts them on his social networks.
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