Leo & Pipo Take Us Through Time in Paris

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Recently during a walk around Paris I came upon street art of a duplicated image of a man from I'm guessing the 19th century, and the little figures came with the calling card "Leo & Pipo". I was intrigued and it appeared they wanted to be found, so I looked them up and there was their Myspace page.

I wanted to know who and what was behind these wonderfully unexpected images pasted up around the city (and had trouble understanding the French) so I got in touch and Leo filled me in on the project. Leo & Pipo are an artist duo who in March of 2008 first made their mark on the Parisian art scene. Using their black and white collages they attempt to modify the face of the French capital by integrating figures from another time.

Little by little they take to the various districts of Paris and invest them with mostly life-size portraits of unknown persons, injecting humanity and charm into an otherwise austere concrete wall - and ultimately, their beloved city.

Leo & Pipo see themselves as the "inventors of a time machine" who enjoy introducing a dialogue between us and these figures from a past time. In essence, they allow us "to fall into another Paris."

Magnifique, n'est-ce pas?

Images courtesy Leo & Pipo

Comments

[Reanna]

Hi Denise. Thanks for sharing the link. I love it! And perfect timing... I'll be in Paris at the end of June so perhaps I'll be able to see some Leo & Pipo in person. High fives!