Street Art in the Metro

New works of art have been installed in the corridor connecting Auber station and Opéra station.

The connecting corridor between Auber and Opéra stations has become a major exhibition space for urban art by the RATP, in partnership with the M.U.R. association (short for Modulable, Urbain, Réactif), which offers urban artists the opportunity to showcase in temporary exhibition spaces. Eight large-format works adorn this evolving gallery: one is renewed every three months.

Each artist was free to interpret this space, through which thousands of travelers pass every day:

Rouge Hartley

“An artist with a solid academic background, Rouge uses his painting to convey societal and poetic messages. Here, the human figure is confronted with the landscape in a metaphor for his relationship to the world of work. This worker, with his feet in the water, steps out of his daily routine for a moment of contemplation of the surrounding nature. Against the current, he invites the flow of travelers rushing to their work for a poetic and melancholic escape.”

Lady M

“Raised in a family of musicians, Lady M developed a melodic oeuvre directly inspired by music. Through the dialogue of colors and the rhythm of shapes, she orchestrates a ‘musical and dancing’ fresco with her gestures. Naturally joyful, Lady M needs gaiety and music to create. This wall therefore becomes a spiritual journey at the border between the real and the unreal, centered on color, composition, and vibration where everyone is free to tell their own story.”

Abys

“Infected by pop culture, cartoons, and comics, Abys has been drawing since childhood and began adolescent graffiti with Osmoz-Colors and Nid d’Guêpes Posse collectives. With mastery of spray technique and a keen sense of perspective, he creates his own universe by depicting fantastical and quirky characters, like the duo of fox and rabbit turned graffiti artists. His mural invites travel to a wonderful world and a return to childhood innocence.”

Logan Hicks

“A great admirer of Impressionist painting, Logan Hicks follows an artistic approach based on photography and playing with light. Using his own prints to translate them into paintings, he recreates this ‘optical blend’ through stencils and spray techniques, which allows him to produce urban landscapes that appear pulverized but nuanced and delicate. With this green wall, he aims to introduce Nature into the concrete city.”

Swed

“It is a meeting that determines the subject of my painting. Like the infinity of his network, the possibilities for creation are multiple within the subway corridors. Hence, I anchor the real within the real, as a witness to a moment, an era, a way of life.”

Seth

“In this corridor exposed to drafts, where our walk is accelerated by an escalator, I wanted to offer travelers, for a moment, an evocation of freedom, like an emergency exit from the alienation of daily life. The lightness of this girl contrasts with the weighty universe of underground tunnels. During this boring journey into the heart of the matrix, she invites us to appreciate the present moment.”

Nesta

“With Vegetalism, I paint the passing of time, my representation of memory. I trace the microcosm of my wastelands. The one that fades away, transforms, is sublimated, only to vanish into oblivion… Through this evocation of vegetal life taking its place in the interstices of our cities, I invite passersby to a greater wonder for this indomitable energy that surrounds us.”

Andrea Ravo Mattoni

“Derived from the famous painting ‘In a Roman Osteria’ by Danish artist Carl Bloch, this character embodies all the ‘Italianness’ fantasized in the 19th century. This dark, proud, protective, masculine, and seductive handsome man embodies the stereotype of the jealous and fiery hero common in great tenor roles. His dark, suspicious gaze contains all the pride of Italy!”

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