Details: In January of 2013, WOOL was invitated to form a group of Portuguese urban artists to participate in what was promised to be the 'largest exhibition ever held, of Street Art'., named Tour of Paris 13, a project by the Mairie du 13e Paris, coordinated by Mehdi Ben Cheikh, Director of Galerie Itinerrance. With volunteer work of participants that during many months would worked inside the tower (and occasionally outside) in the most utmost secret; only was revealed to the public during the month of October.This tower, with a total of 4.500m2, divided by 10 floors (36 flats) and located in one of the most dynamic neighbourhoods in Paris, which was just waiting for its destruction, as part of a project to modernize the municipal housing, became a colossal temporary museum of Street Art, open to all for free and without any commercial approach, was a tribute to this type of Art.
The invitation originated a challenge to a group of artists, which intended to aggregate several generations and spirits of the national Urban Art and portrait from Graffiti to the stencil, all the languages, and / or techniques commonly referred to post-graffiti, with contemporary influences of figurative illustration. The challenge was accepted by all and it took four 'pilgrimages' to the number 5 of Rue Fulton, where the interventions of (and alphabetically) ADD FUEL, CORLEONE, EIME, KRUELLA D'ENFER, ±MAISMENOS±, MAR, MÁRIO BELÉM, PANTÓNIO, PAULO ARRAIANO, SAMINA and VHILS, gradually occupied completely and strategically the 2nd floor of the Tour Paris 13, according to stylistic criteria that guaranteed the legitimacy of their individualities.
The affectionately called “Portuguese floor” was “the key point to achieve the success of this project”, as still stated today by the mentor Mehdi Ben Cheikh.
Biography: Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto (1987) has been interacting visually with the urban environment under the name of Vhils since his days as a prolific graffiti writer in the early 2000s. This striking form of visual poetry, showcased around the world in both indoor and outdoor settings, has been described as brutal and complex, yet imbued with a simplicity that speaks to the core of human emotions, expressing the struggle between the aspirations of the individual and the demanding, saturated environment of the urban spaces he lives in, highlighting and exposing the sombre dimension that lies behind the current model of development and the material aspirations it encompasses – unsustainable, yet inebriating.