Mr. Chat

Mr. CAT (written thus and by marked defect Mister Cat ) is a graphic design of the Orléanais Thoma Vuille . It consists of a orange Chat yellow realized with the bomb of painting, always carrying out a great smile with, sometimes on its back, of small white wings. It is generally painted on an urban wall and in height.

One finds Mr. Chat in many towns of France, in particular with Orleans where its creator deals with contemporary art gallery (Wall Gallery) and Paris, but also in many European countries (England, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Suisse, etc) and almost on all the continents, except the Africa.

Mr. Chat was the subject of a film of Chris Marker entitled Perched Chats in 2004, projected with the Center Pompidou the same year. Immense Mr. Chat was painted for the occasion on the square of the Center Pompidou. To mark this event the newspaper Libération gave freehand to Thoma Vuille to slip of Mr. Chat into all the pages. An exchange between Chris Marker and Thoma Vuille concluded an article from Annick Rivoire on film of Chris Marker (see " sources").

At the end of March 2007, Thoma Vuille was stopped in red-handed of creativity, it was not the first time, in Orleans by the local police whereas it was painting Mr. Chat, boulevard Alexandre Martin. Its lawsuit showed a withdrawal of case, but after the town of Orleans again engaged it for various animations and other drawings. He has worked for several years with the town hall of Orleans where he has his entries (artistic).

Biography of Mr. CAT

1997 :

appearance of Mr. Chat to Orleans

1997 - 2000:

diffusion with Blois, Turns, Nantes, Rennes, Saint-Etienne, La Rochelle, the Ile de Ré…

2000-2003:

Mr. Chat invade the roofs of Paris.
appearance of the signs Mr. Chat in the demonstrations, recovery by the national mediums. London, Vienna, Geneva…

be 2004:

invasion of the “Street Parades” with Zurich

December 2004:

preview with the Center Pompidou of the film Cats perched of the realizer Chris Marker
realization on Piazza: “The largest Cat of the world”
special issue Chris Marker and Mr. Chat put their legs on the daily newspaper Libération .

2005 :

the Center Andre Malraux of Sarajevo accommodates twelve Mr. Chat and a tram in circulation
Mr. Chat in Shadow Festival of Amsterdam.

2006 :

participation in Mayday at the time of Tribeca Films Festival of New York.
residence with the “HongKong Art Center”
realization of “Big Mao” to Macao
intervention Die Neue Gallery , Graz, Austria
intervention at the House of France, Mainz (Germany).

2007

November 4th, intervention at the time of the Feria Internacional del Libro of Santiago of Chile at the time of the presentation of the book Breve historia LED comic in Chile of the Chilean écrivian Omar Pérez Santiago.
from November 18th, 2007 to January 5th, 2008 in Orleans, “Mr. Chat, X Years”, urban exposure for the 10 years of Mr. Chat.

Thoma Vuille describes its work

On the site of the National center of Arts of the Street with Cognac: “The framework of my work is the city, its streets, its walls, and the glance of those which live it. I use the street and the public environment like a fabric, seeking to propose with the passers by imaginative and coloured windows. I mark my courses, those which I imagine natural and poetic in urban space. I seek to create supports with the narration of the city for his inhabitants, taking part in the birth and the exchange of a culture of proximity. ”

Thoma Vuille in a few words

Thoma Vuille was born in July 1977 in French-speaking Switzerland (French-speaking) close to the town of Neuchâtel, in the wine village of Boudry where its paternal family saw. He lived part of his childhood, disturbed by a violent divorce, close to La Rochelle and then with Orleans where he followed studies to the school of the Art schools. The friends of youth and its beginnings tell its first Mr. Chat like the fruit of an escape of a young sharp sectional view, to the top of the walls, such climbing of high naked flight to the hand, paint sprays in the pockets, which would have liked to touch the night of the even if it means Sky to fall on Earth.

Sources

Interview of Chris Marker and Thoma Vuille by Annick Rivoire ('' Libération '' of the Saturday, December 4, 2004)
Site of the National center of Arts of the Street with Cognac
the Republic of the Center , France Blue Orleans

Street art

External bonds

Official site
Gallery photographs and nonofficial complete site of Mr Chat where are indexed geographically the majority of Mr. Chat
Photos and articles of newspapers scannés concerning Mr Chat
the group Mr Chat on flickr
Nantes and Mr. Chat
Galerie photographs of Mr. Chat in the Labyrinth of Sophie