Two rising stars of street art died after being hit by a New York subway train. One of them leaves behind two young children.
It was their Holy Grail. The ultimate challenge for graffiti artists around the world: spray paint a New York subway train. Toulouse street artists Julien Blanc, aka “Jibeone”, 34, father of two young children, and Pierre Audebert, 28, died trying to realize their dream. They were hit by a train on Wednesday near Utica station in Brooklyn.
Julien had left the army to devote himself to his art, Pierre had given up the interim. For the past few days, they have accompanied Ceet-Fouad, the famous graffiti artist from Toulouse, to New York on a promotional tour to sell his NFTs (digital works of art). “Julien and Pierre, I considered them brothers. I’m devastated by what happened,” says the artist.
“Like brothers”
“Since our arrival in New York, they only thought of graffitiing a subway train. Here, in the cradle of urban culture. In the underground world, it’s a bit like an initiation rite. When I was young , I was able to do that, twenty years ago… I knew it was hyperdangerous. I tried to dissuade them from doing it but they did not listen to me”, launches at the end of the line the artist who will soon return to France.
He continues the story of this tragedy of tremolos in the voice: “We had rented an Airbnb. In the morning when I went to their room, I saw that they had not returned. At first, I I was told that I was going to have to get a lawyer and pay their bail. I was sure that they had been arrested by law enforcement. But when I checked the news on my phone and I read that two men had been hit by a train in Brooklyn, I immediately knew it was them.”
The height of horror, the local police asked him to identify the bodies of his friends. “I got an email with pictures, it was unbearable. These guys were diamonds in the rough.”
In Toulouse, there is consternation, all the actors of street art are in shock. “They were great graffiti figures. We are all in mourning. Personally, I will never get over it”, confides in tears, a close friend of the two missing, himself an artist. The parents of Pierre Audebert, who live in the Lot, are devastated. “We are totally flabbergasted. We can’t believe our son is dead,” whispered Pierre’s mother in a trembling voice.
The shaken families
Caroline, Julien Blanc’s companion, is in the same state of amazement: “I did not have the strength to tell our children. We had been together with Julien for ten years. He had started deep into this artistic adventure. At the cost of many sacrifices and hours and hours of work, he began to make us live from his art. Julien had many friends, they are all there like the family, that will help us to overcome this ordeal.”
The two artists exhibited internationally, recently in Morocco, Italy and Barcelona. Their path was clear. These two emerging artists were unanimous as much by the character as their personality. A tribute will be paid to them soon in the Pink City.
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