ANDRE - Mr A, 2006 - Painting on raod sign

André : André, born André Saraiva, is a French graffiti artist of portuguese origin, who was born in Sweden in 1971. He is one of the most prominent French street artist in the world, and he lives in USA. Aged 18, in the late 1980's, he created the stick figure character « Mr A », which became his trademark. He tagged his characters in the streets of Paris at first, before disseminating them around the world. According to André, he drew no less than 300 000 Mr A since he started, which makes it one of the most famous street art emblem around the world, along with the Obey Giant head of Shepard Fairay, the yellow cat of M. Chat, or the mosaic space invaders of Invader. André wears many hats: in addition to his career as an artist, he became a major figure of the Parisian nightlife in the 1990's. His name is linked to many nightlife hotspots, from Paris to New York through Tokyo (where his frescoes are now adorning the new terminal of the city's airport)… André also appears in the Banksy 2010 film « Exit through the Gift Shop », and he played in several other films. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums around the world. He participated notably in the MoCA exhibition "Art in the streets" in Los Angeles in 2011 - which was the most attended exhibition in the MoCA's history. The same year, his work could be seen at the Grand Palais in Paris, and at the 54th Venice Biennal. Recently, there was also an important retrospective of his work at the Museu do Design e da Moda in Lisbon in 2014. André also collaborated with numerous luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tiffany, Sonia Rykiel or Levi's, Nike and Converse.