Miss Van

 Miss Van is an amazing street artist who now also shows in galleries. Her latex graffiti painting was a new style when she became a street artist, she used paint and brushes instead of spray-cans. Her work became more commonly known in the 1990's around Toulouse, France.

Van has titled her characters as  poupees, meaning dolls in french, when her street art was in it's beginning phases were cute, yet sassy figures. As her artwork turned more toward canvas her poupees started to develop into more emotional beings, with intentions plainly on their faces, usually looking up to no good.  


Miss Van captures her characters in such a way that they seem childlike, yet possess a seductive lure.  The viewer is not sure weather or not her poupees are children acting like adults, or adults acting like children. It makes for an interesting discussion from her viewers.

Her street art is more playful, using brighter colors, and bolder lines. Her paintings have a softer feel, the hair is more wispy, the colors blend, and the tones are much lighter. And in the contrast between her street art and paintings is a finny combination. Although her paintings hold softer tones, the subjects are much more intense. Their expressions are much more determined then her playful characters on the street.

 Van has come across ridicule, being a female artist and painting such seductive figures has feminists up in a bunch. They see her work as degrading toward women, yet I see a beauty in each of her subjects. It goes along with the femme fatal genre, yet has a cutesy twist, the bubble lips, large front teeth, giant eyes. But she still changes these aspects into voluptuous women with the ability to stand on their own. Van's work says that she embraces her own creativity and successfully works in a style unlike any I have seen before. 

 Miss Van's website is Here. Her Facebook Fan Page is Here. And an interesting interview she did with SWINDLE magazine is Here.