The murals of Jeanspezial

Painting, friends, and sun...

Jeanspezial is the collective name of 9 artists who have been collaborating since 2005 in France.  The founding idea of the group was to create a unique identity for a fictional character, Jeanspezial.

Jeanspezial grew up with graffiti subculture, but they never thought they were graffiti artists. They’ve never painted in the style that might be considered vandalism, instead they painted quirky scenes and characters. These murals are full of colours, and a lot of time and dedication is taken to make each wall really wonderful… In other words: it’s the opposite of vandalism.

This is why they prefer to talk about their art as a mural rather than graffiti or ‘street art’. Street art doesn’t mean anything to them. So, Jeanspezial are primarily illustrators: they love to paint and be creative on big surfaces, and in real life (they all spend a lot of time inside behind their screens!). They love to experiment, they love working with their friends, and  they love being in the sun, so murals are perfect medium for them.

Most of the time when they arrive on a site they don’t have any idea of what they’ll do, they just know one thing: at the end of the day, the wall has to be painted.

There are not a lot of “legal” walls in Paris that can be painted on, so Jeanspezial say you can be sure your piece will be painted over as soon as you leave the spot you’ve been working on all day. So, for them it feels easier to experiment on a wall rather than on canvas: they know even before they start  that the work piece will be temporary. Because there is nothing to sell, nobody to ‘seduce’, they feel free to do anything they want. It’s just about enjoying the moment, with friends, in the sun.

It’s just about enjoying the moment, with friends, in the sun!

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