Saype
Born 1989 – France
Self-taught, Saype (born Guillaume Legros) is known for his paintings on grass with eco-responsible paint. Certainly one of the most publicized artists in 2019, he was named by Forbes as one of the thirty most influential personalities under the age of thirty in the world, in the field of Art and Culture.
In 2012, working as a nurse, challenged by the revolt of the Arab Spring, Saype questioned the meaning of our existence and our place in society and began to paint in the subway.
Based on the premise that graffiti is diluted in the pollution of our current society, Saype sought to find a new way. Influenced by his readings as well as by the popularity of drones in Europe which gave him easy access to aerial views, he began to paint on grass.
He then invented a 100% biodegradable paint and perfected a process which enabled him to create gigantic frescoes on the ground. He is now considered a pioneer of a new ‘land art’ movement. Its main objective is to put art at the service of the human being, always with a concern for poetic optimism.
With this experience and his ability to mobilize, in 2019 Saype embarked on a project of global scope. His ambition: to symbolically create the largest human chain in the world. This pharaonic project called “Beyond Walls” aims to involve more than 30 cities around the world, and to invite people to mutual aid, kindness and coexistence.
Begun in June 2019 at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars, closed to the public for the first time in its history for the two weeks for the event, this enormous fresco has left its mark. Supported by the British daily newspaper The Guardian, which devoted 3 magazine covers to it, relayed by several hundred media and inaugurated by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, this work has been seen by half a billion people around the world.
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