He had grasped very quickly around 1980 that street art was a continuation of pop art and I profoundly believe this too. I’m very influenced by pop art. I would love to collect it but I just can’t afford a Warhol or a Lichtenstein. I feel really close to them. They are from my generation. I really discovered modern art through pop art during the 70’s. The music of the Velvet Underground, I was a fan of Lou Reed, the movies of Paul Morissey, I went to see all of them. I am at core, a product of pop art. I think ideologically we are really close to pop art and the situationist movement. The situationists wanted to create a revolution though art, I believe we are the descendants of pop art and all the politicized artistic movements that existed during the 60’s, the 70’s and the 80’s.
I imagine that for years, you despaired that the art establishment didn’t recognize the value and power of street art. Now that it has become such a darling of the establishment – how do you feel about it?
Unfortunately, it always happens this way. There is a saying in France that no one is a prophet in his own time which means that if you create something new, it will take time to be accepted.