Lek & Sowat
LEK (b.1971, France) & SOWAT (b.1978, France / USA), have been working as a duo since 2010. They share a common interest for the Urbex – or Urban Exploration – a discipline which consists in exploring the city, in search for modern ruins. Expanding the boundaries of traditional Graffiti, their experiments in situ gather videos, architectural abstractions, installations and archeology, creating a modern form of urban land art.> Read more
In 2012, with the project “Mausoleum”, they organize an underground artist residency in an abandoned shopping center of the capital, getting the attention of Jean de Loisy who opens for them the doors of Palais de Tokyo (Paris). Together with about fifty iconic urban artists and the curator Hugo Vitrani, Lek & Sowat spend two years creating an experimental exhibition in the emergency exits of the building, initiating what will become the Lasco Project, first official urban art programme of the art center.
Since then, they have been collaborating regularly with artists from varied backgrounds, such as beat poet John Giorno, fashion designers Agnès b and Jean Charles de Castelbajac, the pioneers of Graffiti Futura, Mode2 and Jonone, as well as Jacques Villeglé, precursor of street art. With him, they produce the project “Tracés Directs” (Direct Routes), the first Graffiti to enter the permanent collection of Centre Pompidou (Paris).
In 2015, Lek & Sowat have been based at the Villa Medicis in Rome, where they were residents for one year.
Vanishing Point, 2015
