During the day, the artist known as OakOak works a normal 9-5 job, but when the workday is over, he finds places within the urban city of Saint Etienne, France to paint. The town is mainly fueled by coal mining and has begun to become "grubbier" as OakOak puts it. Anyplace that has a crack, is broken down, or in disrepair he tags it. The article has some of his works and they are amazing. This reminds me a little of the documentary about Banksy I watched in my Philosophy of Art class earlier this semester and our discussions on site specificity. If OakOak were to paint these on canvas and place them in galleries, it would change the meaning that was meant to be conveyed. This brings me back to the John Ahern case where the message he meant to convey was not the one that was communicated. Here, however, it is clear that he is trying to bring light and color to these parts of his town.
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