Youssef Boubekeur

A French artist who creates his drawings using ballpoint pen almost exclusively, emphasizing spontaneity and precision. With the ballpoint pen line being both precise and indelible, it forces the artist to build with, and on top of, his mistakes, acknowledging them completely and including them in his creative process. Seeking to turn the mundane into spectacular, to give birth to the “beautiful,” Boubekeur draws almost exclusively with the blue “Bic,” a simple instrument known to and used by all. While this results in monochrome works, it also accentuates their precision, hyper-realism, and all of their beauty. Boubekeur met JR, another French artist, who trained him via the street art project in Israel and Palestine, the now-famous Face2Face project. Subsequently, the artist participated regularly in JR’s various projects around the world. Street art influences Boubekeur, manifesting itself through his aspiration to address as many people as possible, his desire for simple art, generous and funny, and his attraction to large-format works.