Paris People: Ariane Pasco, Street Artist

Veteran of the Paris street art scene and creator of ‘take away’ art, Ariane Pasco tells me how the Nice-Art collective first came into existence and why she continues to take her messages to the streets.

As a mother of teenage girls and a teacher of Natural sciences Ariane Pasco is perhaps not the archetypal street artist. Then again, it is an almost impossible task to describe a typical artist in this genre when so many choose to remain anonymous. The street artist is a peculiar breed, a creator that often works using a particular logo or character, but about whom we know very little. Ariane Pasco agreed to meet me and let me get to know what drives the people behind the creations.

Ariane Pasco has been creating art in Paris since the mid 1980s. She is a founder member of a collective known as Nice-Art, a group that has had as many as seven members but which today counts just two (the other survivor being Dominique Decobecq). The group works mostly with stencils, often based around recognisible icons. Why did they begin creating in the first place though? "There was certainly something about that era in Paris" she remembers. “When we began in 1986, Paris was totally different” she adds. Her eyes glitter as she tells me about this golden age for street art in the city. "We had complete freedom to do as we liked. The city council supported us and even Jacques Chirac (mayor of Paris at the time) was a fan". Paris was a city in transition, with some of the older districts around Belleville and Bastille undergoing radical change. These zones, a curious mixture of the demolished and the still standing, became their favoured areas to work in.

I ask if there a particular message they wanted to get across, and Pasco shakes her head. "Well, we did do a lot of images of nature at that time because we saw the city becoming more and more concrete, but really we were just having fun". At first they worked almost entirely as a team. Each member had responsibility for one particular colour, enabling them to finish their creations and move on very rapidly. They then created a logo, meaning that team members could then work individually but sign their creations in the name of the group. The styles were similar, but each member was free to choose their own icons. Pasco has always favoured rock stars, whilst others have chosen jazz musicians or famous writers. "One member always created stencils of his girlfriends" smiles Pasco.

Several other well known artists began working in the city at the same time (Blek le Rat, Miss-Tic, Jef L'Aerosol, Epsilon), and the community was a very close one. They described themselves as the 'gang des mains noires' (black hand gang), and it is interesting to note that almost all still continue today. Miss-Tic is the one who has perhaps had the most success, and I ask Pasco what she thinks about her contract with a van hire firm (Miss-Tic has provided a logo and slogan for this company). She does not hesitate in her reply, "I'm very happy for her and I'm glad that she has so much success today. She struggled a lot, but she has always been someone who has helped others when she can, and she always helped us a lot".

Much of Ariane Pasco's work involves nostalgia, but she is far from being a nostalgic person herself. She has always tried new things, and two years ago she began a project for which the collective is now almost best known - take-away art using vinyl discs as support. Where did this idea come from? "I have always loved vinyl. It's the sensation of the material in my hands, but also they fact that they are visually attractive. I was a big collector of vinyl too". She is a fan of rock and retains a passion for the music and the people who create it, and it seemed a natural extension of this for her to work with the material for which the genre is particularly associated.

She also wanted to offer something that other people could collect. The disc is decorated and stencilled then placed on a wall in a place which is tricky to access. “They are designed to be seen – and taken!” she tells me. Each one is signed and numbered and constitutes a unique work of art. This gives her street art a certain value, she feels, and also means that it lives on when it is removed from its initial environment, something that is very rare in this world. Posters get torn and damaged, but vinyl is sufficiently solid to resist when people pull it down from the wall. The decision to place them in difficult positions was deliberate, because Pasco believes that when people take them it is shows that they really wanted them.

She has created and displayed around 400 so far. She shows me her book where each of her creations has been carefully noted, and explains that she is careful not to make too many of each personality. “I’ve done 10 Preverts now” she tells me, “so there’ll be no more of him”. Her chosen icons are not just faces from the past though. She has recently produced stencils of Pete Doherty, Matt Bellamy from Muse and Alex Kapranos from Franz Ferdinand, with the latter being an interesting case. "We went to Glasgow this summer to place some of our art and I went to a Franz Ferdinand concert. After the show I was able to give him one of the discs with his picture on, and he seemed very happy with it". It is refreshing to meet someone who has not only retained the energy to create, but also the passion of a teenage rock fan!

In recent times, Ariane Pasco has also begun making creations on canvas which she sells in galleries. I ask what she thinks about street art in this environment and she frowns. “We have to live” she says, but it is clear that she sees it more as a necessary evil for her. “Street art is spontaneity and energy” she adds, "but in a gallery it just looks flat". She knows that her canvases cannot recreate this, but she understands that people who like the style want something that they can take home with them. Generally such people look for something clean, but she tries to make them as dirty and energetic as possible.

As someone who has been involved with the Paris street art scene for nearly 25 years, I'm curious to know what she thinks about the scene in the city today. When I suggest that it seems to me as if there are more street artists than ever working in Paris today she rapidly agrees. "It's a real explosion" she says. "I think it's wonderful" she continues, "there is so much variety today, and there are really no limits to what can be done. I think people have been downtrodden for a long time now, and they really want to express themselves again".

What about Nice-Art -what is the future for them? "Oh we still have plenty of projects" says Pasco. "We're going to be involved in some gallery shows, and we're going to travel a bit more and spread our art, but what we really want to do is start bombing again". I wonder if the collective will grow again, and whether there is a new generation ready to take up the reins. Ariane Pasco smiles. It seems that there is another member of the family who has shown creative skills and who appears to be hearing the call of the city walls...

Note: Thanks to Ariane for agreeing to meet me and for letting me use some of the photos from her website. If you want to know about her work and that of the Nice-Art collective, visit http://www.nice-art.net/.

If you are interested in Street Art and would like to visit some of the key areas in Paris, download my Street Art walking tour.

Paris People: Le Glacier Raimo

Raimo is dead - long live Raimo. Two years ago, the Raimondo family sold their ice-cream company to a group of investors hoping that an injection of capital would bring a fresh start to the establishment. Since then, the company has grown and the original café has expanded, but what is it like to fill the family shoes at such a venerable institution? I asked Myriam Labbe, the new Manageress, and Wilfried Wattier, one of the young chefs whose job it is now to create the delicious desserts.

It is often said that Paris is a ghost town in August, but for some people it is the busiest time of the year. This is certainly the case at Raimo, the oldest and arguably best ice-cream producer in the city. The Raimo Glacier on the Boulevard de Reuilly in the sleepy 12th Arrondissement was a family affair for over 60 years. The Raimondo family were immigrants from Italy who arrived in France at the beginning of the 20th century and who opened their first shop in 1947. Five successful years later they had earned enough money to move to larger premises, the café where Raimo is still installed today.

Two years ago after contracts were exchanged, the café was closed for several months and renovated. Rather than sweep away all traces of the past though, the new management team decided to keep the name and use the heritage as a selling point. There were two major objectives though; expand beyond the confines of the café and recruit some young adventurous chefs who would boost and expand the product range.

Wilfried Wattier

A delicate balancing act then between satisfying the existing customers and attempting to attract a new clientele. “It certainly wasn’t easy to come in and take over the running of such an institution” says Myriam Labbe, a young and dynamic manager with a sharp business mind. “We wanted to innovate, but you have to respect the local customers” she adds. When I remark that the established clientele, who have been coming here for generations, are reputed to be very demanding, Myriam Labbe agrees. “Yes they are” she says, “but this is understandable. They have known and loved this place for over 60 years and they are not slow to let us know if they are unhappy with something”. This of course also has many positive sides; “They are very loyal customers and keep us on our toes” she says.

Myriam Labbe

A waiter tells me of a recent incident that outlines this point. “We had a problem with the freezers one hot Sunday and we had to close the shop. When we told the people who were waiting to be served I thought there was going to be a riot. Some people must think that we put drugs in our products because they certainly seem to be addicted to our ice-creams!”.

The Raimondo family are still advisors and pop in from time to time. It cannot be easy for them to see the family treasure transformed in this way, but their forthright opinions help the new team to know when they have been successful with an innovation. When they receive the difficult to win approval from the originators, they know that they can press ahead with a project. The family still see familiar faces though as most of the production and service staff were kept on after the sale, and three people have been at the establishment for over twenty years.

The Raimo laboratory as it was.

I’m shown the kitchen area, known as the laboratory, and Wilfried Wattier explains how this constant hive of activity operates. “On quieter days we experiment with new flavours, but most of the time this is a busy production environment. We produce around 250 litres of ice-cream a day here, but on an average warm summer day we can clear the entire stock”.

One of the experienced production team in the laboratory today.

What is it though that makes Raimo ice-creams and sorbets nicer than those of their competitors. “It’s the quality of the primary ingredients” explains Myriam Labbe, “which are sourced from a dozen or so suppliers who have worked with the company for a long time. Everything is fresh and is cut and squeezed by hand”. There are also some secrets involved in the production that go back generations, but of course Wilfried Wattier is sworn to secrecy.

Tasting the products, the wonderful and subtle maple syrup or honey, the ginger or lemon that have a real kick, or the unusual violet or banana sorbets, I feel that they have no competition in Paris. This is possibly just a question of personal taste, but it is easy to see why their products should be so much nicer than mass-produced industrial ice-cream. “The major difference is the amount of air” explains Wilfried. “In factory made ice-cream around 60% of the product is air, but our products are closer to 15-25%. When the main ingredients are so tightly packed together you notice the difference immediately. The odour is stronger, the taste is more intense and the sensation in the mouth is different”. Another factor is visual. There are no garish pinks or screaming yellows here, just delicate pastel hues. In fact what you would expect to see when using only natural ingredients.

The exact product range is difficult to list as it changes throughout the year. “Don’t expect to find strawberry ice-cream in November” says Myriam Labbe, “our products follow the seasons”. What do we have to look forward to in the autumn and winter though when fresh produce is more scarce? Wilfired Wattier thinks, “We make a Beaujolais sorbet” he replies. When I mention that I’d heard that it was the impossible grail of ice-cream producers to make something from wine he smiles. “Yes, but the secret to producing ice-cream and sorbets with alcohol is to use a lot of fruit. We know that the Beaujolais flavour will only work if we add plenty of grapes.” Again, the secret is the natural.

An old client returning to Raimo today may find it different but they won’t find it has changed.

Raimo Glacier
59 – 61, boulevard de Reuilly
Métro : Daumesnil
Open daily from 10am to 10pm

Note: This post is the first in a new series that I have called Paris People. I have left out the word ‘invisible’, but I am nevertheless interested in focusing on people who work behind the scenes. This series will mostly be about working people, individuals who are passionate about their business and who you are likely to come across when visiting the city but not necessarily notice. It also gives me the opportunity to write about some of my favourite places!

Another new series of posts will begin soon too, this time featuring guest writers!