The other
day I discovered a – for me – new wall-painting by street artists Zag & Sia. The painting is named “La Villa des Arts” and is of course clearly
linked to its immediate neighbour, “La Villa des Arts”, a place where artists
like Renoir, Cézanne, Picabia, Signac… have been living or working for shorter
or longer periods. I reported on the place here and here. On the painting we
can see Sia balancing on a heart (“L’Attrape Coeur”, referring to Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”). (Rue
Etienne Jodelle, Paris 18e.)

I’m more
used to see Zag & Sia decorating stairs in their own, original, way and
remembered that a couple of days ago, when I was invited to a private concert
in the 14th arrondissement, I noticed that one of their stair-paintings was clearly losing its colours. (Stairs leading to Rue des Artistes,
Paris 14e – compare with the more official photo taken when it was all newly painted.)

I got
curious, as I especially remembered the stairs (Rue Lemaignan, Paris 14e) that
some two years ago they had decorated to commemorate the death, 30 years
earlier, of the extremely popular comedian and actor Coluche. I wrote about it
here. I went back to check… and, how lucky I was, I found Zag & Sia, (see top picture) working on a modification of the portrait of Coluche and adding the portrait of
his wife, Véronique, who died very recently. Véronique has since her husband’s
death played an important role in the “Restos de Coeur”, a charity launched by
her husband and today involving thousands of volunteers, mainly
distributing food, hot meals… to the needy. When you see Zag & Sia in
action you realise how difficult their job is. 

I thought I
should check some other of Zag & Sia’s decorated stairs. You have to realise that much
is gone, that this type of art is quite ephemeral. Here are some examples of what
I couldn’t find, of what is gone…The original photos here, above and below are stolen from here and here, including Zag & Sia’s Facebook site. 

But on my way through the very street-art-friendly
13th arrondissement, I could again admire some works by other
artists…

… and I
also found this quite recent work by Zag & Sia (Rue de Chevaleret, Paris
13e)….  

… and this one (Boulevard du Général Jean Simon, Paris13e)…

… and then I discovered that these stairs lead to or from an incredible street art shop. It
was even written “öppet” which means “open” in Swedish, so I of course had a
look inside…  and I realised how the
prices of works by some of these artists are climbing.

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