Saype
{{Short description|Contemporary artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Saype
| image = Saype (Guillaume Legros) in 2019.png
| image_size = 340px
| caption = Saype in 2019
| birth_name = Guillaume Legros
| birth_date = {{birth date|1989|02|17}}
| birth_place = Belfort, France
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| nationality = French
Swiss
| education =
| known_for = Biodegradable land art painting
| notable_works =
| movement =
| spouse =
| website = https://www.saype-artiste.com/
}}
Saype (born February 17, 1989, in Belfort, France) is a contemporary artist. He is known for creating ultra-realistic giant paintings in nature using a biodegradable paint he invented himself.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-19 |title=Le Jurassien d'adoption Saype, roi de l'art éphémère sur l'herbe ou le sable |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/arts-visuels/12725406-le-jurassien-dadoption-saype-roi-de-lart-ephemere-sur-lherbe-ou-le-sable.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}} In 2019, Forbes magazine ranked him among the 30 most influential people under 30 in art and culture.{{Cite web |title=30 Under 30 Europe 2019: Art & Culture |url=https://www.forbes.com/under30/list/2019/europe/art-culture/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=Forbes |language=en}}
Biography
Guillaume Legros was born in Belfort on February 17, 1989, and grew up in Évette-Salbert, on the French-Swiss border.{{Cite web |title=Évette-Salbert. Saype, l'ascension d'un artiste mondialement connu |url=https://www.estrepublicain.fr/culture-loisirs/2021/01/03/saype-l-ascension-d-un-artiste-mondialement-connu |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=www.estrepublicain.fr |language=FR-fr}} He trained as a nurse and practiced this profession in parallel with his artistic activity for nearly 7 years.{{Cite web |title=Saype and his giant paintings for solidarity |url=https://houseofswitzerland.org/swissstories/environment/saype-and-his-giant-paintings-solidarity |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=House of Switzerland |date=22 July 2020 |language=en}} He believes that being a nurse had an impact on his artwork by bringing him closer to "existential questions such as the suffering of the human being".{{Cite news |date=2019-07-05 |title=Saype, du street art pour éveiller les consciences |language=fr |work=Le Temps |url=https://www.letemps.ch/culture/saype-street-art-eveiller-consciences |access-date=2022-07-15 |issn=1423-3967}}
Guillaume Legros is known under the pseudonym Saype, which is formed from the contraction of "say" and "peace", two words he used in graffiti from an early age.{{cite news|title= Ephemeral art for lasting peace |url=https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/fdfa/fdfa/aktuell/newsuebersicht/2021/09/saype-kunst-fuer-frieden.html |publisher=eda.admin.ch|date=September 17, 2021}} As an artist, Saype is self-taught; he began painting graffiti in the street at the age of fourteen.{{cite news |date=March 12, 2021 |title=Saype's worldwide 'Beyond walls Project' extends his symbolic human chain to Benin, West Africa 2021 |publisher=graffitistreet.com |url=https://www.graffitistreet.com/saypes-worldwide-beyond-walls-project-extends-his-symbolic-human-chain-to-benin-west-africa-2021/}} His first works, made in his studio, were first exhibited in art galleries at the age of sixteen.{{cite web|work=France 3 |title=Tribute to artist Saype 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6QHecP2KdM|date=2019-01-03}} Saype specialises in grass painting and ephemeral land art. The artworks disappear after a month due to regrowth of the grass, the weather and the passage of visitors.{{cite web|work=Saype Artist|title=Passage on LCI of Saype| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_oGUgv7FWo|date=2015-08-17}} Saype states that he wants to draw people's attention and impact mentalities with his monumental artworks without leaving a trace in nature.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=Saype crée des ponts entre le street-art et le land-art |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/arts-visuels/13145114-saype-cree-des-ponts-entre-le-streetart-et-le-landart.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}
Works
Saype's first work in nature, L'Amour, was created in 2015 in the French Alps. It was then the largest fresco on grass in the world.{{Citation |title=Passage sur LCI de la Peinture sur herbe de saype |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_oGUgv7FWo |language=en |access-date=2022-07-15}} He then broke this 1,200 m2 record several times.{{Cite web |title=SAYPE ARTISTE - Series |url=https://en.saype-artiste.com/human-story |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=SAYPE |language=en}} The accessibility of drones at that time gave new perspectives and allowed him to immortalize his works.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=Saype crée des ponts entre le street-art et le land-art |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/arts-visuels/13145114-saype-cree-des-ponts-entre-le-streetart-et-le-landart.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}
In 2018, he joined forces with the SOS Méditerranée NGO and created the Message from Future fresco near the United Nations Office at Geneva. The project aimed to pay tribute to the organisation's volunteers who rescue migrants at sea.{{Cite web |title=Genève : l'artiste belfortain Saype rend hommage à SOS Méditerranée avec une nouvelle oeuvre grandiose |url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bourgogne-franche-comte/territoire-de-belfort/belfort/geneve-artiste-belfortain-saype-rend-hommage-sos-mediterranee-nouvelle-oeuvre-grandiose-1542880.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté |date=18 September 2018 |language=fr-FR}} The action notably prompted elected officials to ask the government to offer a Swiss flag to the rescue vessel Aquarius.{{Cite web |title=Saype, artiste sur herbe |url=https://www.illustre.ch/magazine/saype-artiste-herbe |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=Illustre |language=fr-CH}}
On June 15, 2019, Saype launched its Beyond Walls project, which aims to connect the five continents through the largest symbolic human chain in the world. The first stop was the Champ de Mars, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, in Paris.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-05 |title=Saype's grassy graffiti: meet the street-art sensation who sprays mountains |url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/05/saype-giant-land-art-mountains-drones-paris-guardian |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} For the realization of the work, the Champ de Mars was closed to the public for two weeks, a historic first.{{Cite web |title=Paris - Une fresque gigantesque dévoilée sur le Champ de Mars |url=https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/paris-ile-de-france/paris/paris-fresque-gigantesque-devoilee-champ-mars-1685890.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=France 3 Paris Ile-de-France |date=15 June 2019 |language=fr-FR}} The 600-meter-long fresco depicts hands holding each other. Between 2019 and 2020, more than a dozen cities are associated with the project. In 2020, it connected Ouagadougou, Yamoussoukro, Turin and Istanbul. In 2021, Saype painted in the township of Philippi, Cape Town, in the city of Ganvié, marked by a history of slavery, and exhibited at the World Expo in Dubai.{{Cite web |title=BEYOND WALLS {{!}} SAYPE ARTISTE |url=https://en.saype-artiste.com/beyond-walls-project |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=SAYPE |language=en}} In 2022, he participated in the Venice Biennale with a fresco drifting on the Grand Canal.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-21 |title=Due braccia e un grande prato verde: Saype disegna l'emergenza climatica a Venezia |url=https://www.repubblica.it/green-and-blue/2022/04/20/news/saype_beyond_walls_biennale_arte_venezia-346055199/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}
In 2021 and 2022, Saype painted in front of the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Nairobi, on the occasion of the organization's 75th anniversary.{{Cite web |title=The making of "World in progress II" by Swiss artist Saype {{!}} UN Web TV |url=https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1n/k1nq4xcvsj |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=media.un.org |date=18 September 2021 |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-03-05 |title=SAYPE reveals his latest giant land art at the UN headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya 2022 |url=https://www.graffitistreet.com/saype-reveals-his-latest-giant-land-art-at-the-un-headquarters-in-nairobi-kenya-2022/ |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=GraffitiStreet |language=en-GB}} World in Progress is described as "a message of hope," depicting the creation of an ideal world imagined by two children.{{Cite web |title=World in progress III |url=https://en.saype-artiste.com/world-in-progress-iii |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=SAYPE |language=en}}
Technique
Saype is a pioneer in the field of painting on grass and his work falls between land and street art.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-03 |title=Saype crée des ponts entre le street-art et le land-art |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/arts-visuels/13145114-saype-cree-des-ponts-entre-le-streetart-et-le-landart.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}}{{Cite web |date=2019-10-07 |title=L'oeuvre géante de Saype, pionnier du land art, pour défendre l'environnement |url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/arts-expos/street-art/l-oeuvre-geante-de-saype-pionnier-du-land-art-pour-defendre-l-environnement_3648261.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=Franceinfo |language=fr-FR}} His creations are based on a biodegradable paint, composed of water, chalk, charcoal and casein.{{Citation |title=Beyond walls : Dans les coulisses de l'équipe de l'artiste Saype |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhyIIKHglJQ |language=en |access-date=2022-07-15}} Saype developed it himself after a year of research, aiming to minimize environmental impact while maintaining an adherence with the earth.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-19 |title=Le Jurassien d'adoption Saype, roi de l'art éphémère sur l'herbe ou le sable |url=https://www.rts.ch/info/culture/arts-visuels/12725406-le-jurassien-dadoption-saype-roi-de-lart-ephemere-sur-lherbe-ou-le-sable.html |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=rts.ch |language=fr}} The artworks are visible from the sky for a few weeks, then disappear as nature dictates. They are reproduced in lithographs and unique prints signed by the artist.
Beyond his ephemeral works in nature, Saype also creates in his studio and exhibits in galleries with his series Métros and Les Aurores.{{Cite web |title=belfort - Peinture. Les belles aurores de Saype |url=https://www.estrepublicain.fr/edition-belfort-hericourt-montbeliard/2017/12/12/les-belles-aurores-de-saype |access-date=2022-07-15 |website=www.estrepublicain.fr |language=FR-fr}} These brush and airbrush works combine media, including canvas and plexiglas, to give an impression of depth.{{Cite news |date=2019-12-18 |title=Saype: the artist who paints 100% biodegradable graffiti on grass - Amica |language=it-IT |work=Amica |url=https://www.amica.it/2019/12/18/saype-the-artist-who-paints-100-biodegradable-graffiti-on-grass/ |access-date=2022-07-15}}
Gallery
{{Gallery
| title =
| align =
| footer =
| style =
| mode = packed
| state =
| height =
| width =
| captionstyle =
| File: Saype (Guillaume Legros) painting grass for the ArtiChoke festival 2019.png
| alt1=
| Saype (Guillaume Legros) painting grass for the ArtiChoke festival, 2019
| File: Saype (Guillaume Legros) at work preparing for the ArtiChoke festival 2019.png
| alt2=
| Saype (Guillaume Legros) at work for the ArtiChoke festival, 2019
| File: Beyond Walls - Parc des Bastions-2.jpg
| alt3=
| Beyond Walls by Saype, Geneva, 2019
| File:SAYPE Bridges 2024 Fribourg 01.jpg
| alt4=
| Bridges by Saype, Fribourg,2024
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.saype-artiste.com Saype official website]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saype}}