Known for her silhouettes of brunette, sexy and poetic women stencilled on the walls of the capital, in particular, the street-artist Miss Tic died, Sunday May 22, in Paris, can we read on her account Instagram. She never stopped shaping her legend on the walls, the decrepit facades, under a street lamp, a dead end or a badly lit sidewalk.
“She fought the disease with so much courage. So many memories coming back, so many moments shared since the early 80s… So much sadness…”reacted the stencil artist Jef Aérosol on Instagram.
The artist, visual artist and poet spent her childhood in Paris between Château-Rouge and the Sacré-Coeur, then her adolescence in Orly in the housing estates. The young girl does street theater in the Zéro de conduit company. In 1980, she went into exile for two years in Los Angeles and San Francisco, immersed in the punk milieu. Discovery of experimental video, the violence of American society, money and dope: she admits to having bad encounters there.
Back in Paris, following a heartbreak, she met the artists of the Ripolin and Vive la peinture gang who took to the streets, hijacked the posters, painted the palisades. Miss Tic is very close to comics, rock, chooses stencil because it’s a simple technique. In 1985, she started. She draws a portrait of herself from a photo on cardboard.
Using a cutter, she cuts out the lighted areas. She places the perforated cardboard on a wall of 14e rounding, coating it with paint, remove the cardboard. The first portrait of her is printed in black and white on the wall: a wise, slender young girl, her hands on her knees. A statement, next to the image: “I put on wall art to bombard words with hearts. »
From the walls of Butte-aux-Cailles to Louis Vuitton
Her signature, Miss Tic finds it in an old Scrooge album. It’s the name of the little witch who is obsessed with stealing Scrooge’s favorite penny. “She is attracted by what shines, her search never succeeds. » The witch’s name is spelled Miss Tick. She prefers to write it without k, like a surprising tic. This is what happens with his stencils: you come across them furtively in the street and go on your way.
The 1990s were tough: the proliferation of taggers made the police surly. One day she prints a captioned drawing “Egeria and I cried” on a wall in the Marais. The owner filed a complaint and she was arrested in 1997. Miss Tic was ordered on appeal to pay 22,000 francs to the plaintiff. She wants to continue working but refuses to be taken for a delinquent.
In the 20e district, she negotiates with the town hall, traders, residents to print fifty stencils, a series entitled muses and men : the drawings copy fragments of paintings by famous painters. In the 5e district, she also discusses with the merchants, who come to an agreement. Same thing at the Butte-aux-Cailles.
Louis Vuitton asks him for a stencil for an invitation card. The Japanese brand Comme des Garçons publishes a retrospective newspaper, the designer Kenzo makes a T-shirt. Paul Person shoots a clip near his works. In his studio, huge paintings are photographs of his alleys, his garage doors and curtains of graffitti traders. Miss Tic trades by freezing her works which are intended to be ephemeral.
On International Women’s Rights Day, March 8, 2011, La Poste issues stamps reproducing works by Miss Tic, inspired by her stencils. In 2013, the Montpellier conurbation chose it to carry out the design of its future fifth tram line.
Biography
1956 Born in Paris.
1980-1982 Trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
1985 Birth of Miss Tic.
1999 Lawsuit brought by a building owner.
2022 Death in Paris