Henry Hang – Le Degas De La Street Dance

Bringing two of the elements of Hip Hop together on his latest mural, painter and photographer (and occasional professor) Henry Hang shows his enthusiasm here in his native Paris with an aerosol can and brush with equal passion.

A former graffiti tagger with ALB in the early 1990s, Mr. Hang also practiced dance as a bboy – saying that he is bringing it all together on canvas and walls with the energy of graffiti. Last year he was teaching students at the Figaro fair about all of the plastic and performative arts that contribute to the “aestheticization of hip-hop culture.” This new wall with Art Azoi combines his appreciation for all of it.

The figures are lifted and turned with a certain elegance: always in motion and gravitating above the ground with a resolute honesty found in street performance sometimes. Not that he is trying to be too literal; his appreciation for impressionism is evidenced by the title he has given himself, “Le Degas De La Street Dance.” Seeing his enthusiasm and his expression of it is inspiring in itself.