Wandering in Belleville: Living Art on Rue Dénoyez
February 6, 2010
Not only do I live in Paris’ coolest up-and-coming neighborhood (Belleville), but I also live just off of the coolest street in this neighborhood (Rue Dénoyez), which locates me in the epicenter of Parisian coolness. It’s an exhaustingly cool life! But in all seriousness, this street, which is only about 2 blocks long, is a riot of color that changes multiple times a day, thanks to the tireless graffiti artists who return again and again to make (and re-make) their marks. I took these photos yesterday morning, and by early evening, the entire color scheme of the street had been transformed.
On my way home each day, I anticipate the change that has inevitably occurred while I’m out. Without fail, new images appear where someone else’s tag had existed just a few hours before. For anyone who dares suggest that the Parisian art scene has stalled, I would challenge them to visit the Rue Dénoyez and not be amazed by the living, breathing art that animates this neighborhood.
If I had any artistic talent whatsoever, I would consider jumping into the mix and and leaving my own mark on some corner of Rue Dénoyez. But alas, I would probably just end up asphyxiating myself with spray paint. So for now, I will just be the creepy girl with the camera, lurking in the shadows and documenting the dynamic battle of the taggers that plays out here everyday.
Written by Tory Hoen for the HiP Paris Blog. Looking for a fabulous vacation rental in Paris, Provence, or Tuscany? Check out Haven in Paris.
Written by Tory Hoen
After attending Brown University and spending two years in New York, Tory bought a one-way ticket to Paris to pursue her dream of becoming a writer (and of drinking wine at lunch). During her time in the City of Light, she chronicled the euphoric highs and the laughable lows of ex-pat life on her blog, A Moveable Beast. Though she's now based in New York, she travels frequently to Montreal and Brazil, and she'll use just about any excuse to jet to Paris ("I ran out of fleur de sel"). A regular contributor to Hip Paris, Tory also writes for New York Magazine, Time Out New York, and she is a co-author of Gradspot.com's Guide To Life After College.
Website: http://www.toryhoen.com/
Tags: belleville, graffiti, paris street art, Rue Dénoyez, tory hoen
Posted in Parisian Living | 1 Comment »
[...] Having living in this neighborhood this winter, I suspected that there was either some crazy drug trafficking or crazy art-making (or maybe both) going on in the ateliers that lined the rue de Belleville, rue Denoyez and rue Ramponeau. I really wanted to learn more about the scene but—because I am not cool by nature—I figured this was a dynamic subculture that was inaccessible to me. No longer! [...]