Miss Van (born 1973 in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France), also known as Vanessa Alice, is a

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

and

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

artist. Miss Van started painting on the street of Toulouse alongside Mademoiselle Kat at the age of 18. Today, she is now internationally known as a street and fine artist. Primarily, her work is marked by the use of unique characters, called ''poupées,'' or dolls. Miss Van's work has appeared on streets internationally, although she also exhibits canvases in galleries across France, Europe and the United States. Today, her work is characterized by both street art and

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

, blurring the lines between both worlds. Miss Van currently resides in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and has written and published several books with the publishing house Drago and coordinated several art shows across Europe. She remains one of the most famous female street and graffiti artists in the world, recognized as one of the top figures in early 21st-century street art canon.

Artwork

Miss Van with El Bocho's Little Lucy, Berlin 2009

In her artwork, Miss Van typically depicts sloe-eyed women, covering a varied array of female forms and expressing many different emotions. Common themes in her work include eroticism, sexuality, desire and innocence which are represented by animal masks, pastel colors, and revealing clothing. Miss Van's work illustrates a cartoonish, dream-like world of female sexuality. Over time the stylization of the women has changed, reflecting Miss Van's artistic and personal evolution as she has grown and matured. This change is paralleled in Miss Van's increased preference for the gallery over the street. In the gallery, Miss Van embraces enclosed and intimate gallery space as part of the artistic experience . Between 2008 and 2016, Miss Van exhibited artwork in private galleries in Shanghai, London, Rome, Berlin, Paris and Vienna. In North America, she has held shows in Detroit, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Montreal, Chicago and New York. Notable shows include, ''Still a Little Magic'' at Upper Playground, San Francisco in 2008; ''Cachetes Colorados'' at Upper Playground, Mexico City in 2010; and ''A Moment in Time'' at

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

, London in 2016. The same year, Miss Van also showed at the Atmossphere Biennale in Moscow, where she exhibited a woven wool rug based on an original painting.

Critical reception

Thematically, her work has provoked a negative reaction from some feminists due to the portrayal of women in her graffiti. Although she receives this backlash, her reasoning for her painting is more personal. "Painting on walls was a way to show that I was boycotting the conventional art world".MissVan.com Despite negative critique of her work, some critics perceive her portrayal of sexuality and feminity as a powerful rejection of

male supremacy Supremacism is the belief that a certain group of people is superior to all others. The supposed superior people can be defined by age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, language, social class, ideology, nation, culture, ...

and male-dominated art. Her work is also appreciated for centering women and increasing the representation of women in street art. Furthermore, the depiction of a full-figured female form in Miss Van's work is representative of body positive politics. Miss Van is regarded as one of the most famous female graffiti and street artists in the world, a genre that is generally considered as having few female artists. In 2013, Miss Van painted a street art piece with collaborators depicting what is commonly referred to as "Blackface." She faced a string of criticism on her personal instagram account as a white European woman appropriating the culture of Black Americans. Despite personal pleas of people of color, the artist chose to delete and censor their posts, causing even more of a disruption. In 2016, Miss Van held her first institutional art show at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

in Spain, titled "For The Wind in My Hair." The show featured 39 original paintings on canvas.

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calls the show as "interesting discourse between the worlds of fine art and street art." Miss Van also displays how meaning changes between these two artistic sites, the street and the gallery.

Publications

Books

* ''Wild at Heart'' (2012) Drago * ''Twinkles'' (2011) Drago

Books with contributions by Miss Van

* ''Pop Surrealism: What a Wonderfool World'' (2010) Drago *

Dorothy Circus Gallery Dorothy Circus Gallery is a contemporary art gallery exhibiting artworks belonging to lowbrow, graffiti and street art. Overview Dorothy Circus Gallery was founded in 2007 by publisher Maddalena Di Giacomo and her daughter, Alexandra Mazzant ...

''Trilogy: Walk on the Wild Side'' (2013) Drago

Exhibits

2014 �
Miss Van: Glamorous Darkness
StolenSpace Gallery, London – Solo Show 2014 �
Spectrum: Winter Group Show
StolenSpace Gallery, London – Group Show 2014 �
Art Truancy: Celebrating 20 Years of Juxtapoz Magazine
Johnathan LeVine Projects – Group Show 2014 �
StolenSpace Gallery at SCOPE Miami Beach 2014
– Fair 2015 �
The Reasons for the Seasons
StolenSpace Gallery, London – Group Show 2015 �
FESTIN DE ARTE at Isabelle Croxatto Galleria
Isabelle Croxatto Galleria, Santiago – Group Show 2015 �
'Freedom' a Group Show
StolenSpace Gallery, Berlin – Group Show 2015 �
FIFTY24MX at LA Art Show 2015
– Fair 2016 �
Ch. ACO'16
Isabel Croxatto Galería, Santiago – Group Show 2016 �
Isabel Croxatto Galeria at Contemporary Istanbul 2016
Şişli – Fair 2017 �
Flor de Piel
Victor Lope Arte Contemporaneo, Barcelona – Solo Show 2017 �
Welcome to New Jersey
Jonathan LeVine Projects, Jersey City – Group Show 2017 �
Isabel Croxatto Galeria at Art Central 2017
– Fair

References

External links

Official Miss Van siteMiss Van – InstagramMiss Van at Beinart GalleryJuxtapoz Magazine InterviewLamono Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Van 1973 births Living people French women painters French graffiti artists 20th-century French painters 21st-century French painters Women graffiti artists 20th-century French women artists 21st-century French women artists Women muralists Pseudonymous artists