Before Banksy and Shepard Fairey there was Blek le Rat. The French street artist is quite possibly the first person to use stencils for graffiti, a style he pioneered to veer away from the NY city tags he had witnessed. His first stencils of life sized rats invaded the streets of Paris in the early 80's. From there he moved to stencils of popular icons of culture and some self portraits. To say he is a mayor influence on current street artists is an understatement.

Subliminal Projects, Shepard Fairey's brand new gallery, is hosting Blek's first ever US show. The show titled “Art is Not Peace, But War” starts tonight and will run till May 2nd.

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS GALLERY is located at 1331 W Sunset Blvd. Opening Reception starts at 8pm.

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