C215

C215

One of his artworks, Paris

C215, also known as Christian Guémy, born in 1973, is a French street artist focused on stencil graffiti. The ‘C’ in C215 represents his real name Christian, and the number signifies a hotel room in which he approximately decided what his life was going to look like. C215 liked the anonymity. He has been creating street art for about 20 years. In 2005 he started spray painting and today he's one of the most popular stencil artists who has already also been described as "France's answer to Banksy." Guémy’s daughter Nina is a popular subject of his stencil art. She has also become a stencil artist of her own.

Most of the time his work contains portraits of people. C215's subjects are typically those such as beggars, homeless people, refugees and street kids, representing the people that really belong to the streets, and kids who have no chance in life. He has practiced his art in cities all over the world. His stencils can be seen in Barcelona, Amsterdam, London, Rome, Paris, Oslo and Colombo and Berlin as well. In addition to his street work, C215 also produces commercial artwork on wood for galleries.

C215 murals and stencils can be seen in the Internet very often, because they’re very popular.

The best part about C215’s job, in his opinion, is that he creates what he truly loves: his artwork. C215 doesn’t have to worry about working a traditional job under a boss. He also believes that one should never follow anyone, nor copy others. They should simply follow their own style and feeling.

No matter how many times I’m looking at artworks by Parisian street artist, I'm always wondering just how he makes them. The texture, the color, the detail, all made with stencils and spray paint on any available object! It's truly impressive, take a look!

A stencil of C215 in Paris