32The Rat Before Banksy
“Chopin” by Blek le Rat, November 2018 · spray-paint stencil on the Waco Running Company wall · one of six stencils he sprayed in Waco that week as a gift to the citySTENCIL
The Frenchman who invented stencil street art left six pieces in Waco. This is one. Really.
Stand here and understand what you're looking at: an original by Blek le Rat — the Parisian who invented stencil street art in 1981, the man about whom Banksy said: “Every time I think I've painted something original, I find out Blek le Rat has done it… twenty years earlier.” The father of the entire art form. On a running-store wall. In Waco.
How? A Waco juice-bar owner watched a documentary, cold-emailed the art collector in it, and talked him into bringing street-art royalty to town. In November 2018, the 67-year-old legend spent a week here spray-painting six stencils as — his words — a gift to the city. This one is Chopin. The other five are still out there: at Dichotomy, Cultivate 7twelve, Apex Coffee, the Art Center, and Brotherwell Brewing. Waco has a real-life street-art treasure hunt, and this is your first clue.
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