ACTU NICE
02/11/2022
César Malfi is a street artist from Nice who puts his work "at the service of society". He has just finished a giant mural in the Moulins district.
"If this work should exist again, what would it be like? This is more or less the question that César Malfi asks himself every day, and for which the answers are infinitely numerous. For several years now, this young man from Nice has been making his way in the local artistic landscape and far beyond.
After 10 days of work, he has just signed a giant fresco,inspired by Marianne, Catherine Ségurane and the goddess Nikaia, on the facade of a building in the Moulins district in Nice ((Alpes Maritimes).
Artistic reflection and pedagogy
The street artist spent more than 80 hours in a construction platform, perched dozens of metres above the ground. Entitled Liberté, Égalité, Féminité,this 12-metre high and 10-metre wide spray-painted work embodies César Malfi's commitment to women's rights.
Far from the idea of simply doing graffiti, this urban artist wishes to contribute his thoughts on the contemporary world by adopting a more "educational" vision of the discipline. For it is undeniable: for a long time associated with illegality and acts of vandalism, street art has been difficult to democratise.
It was then necessary to give it another dimension, to allow it to convey messages and to speak to the "general public".Almost logical, given that this artistic movement was born in the street. César Malfi does what he does best: he takes the opposite view of a sometimes gloomy current situation and puts his works "at the service of society".
"I have a close connection with Italy, it's my background. I had a mentor who took me to museums to introduce me to art, especially the Italian renaissance period. I was 6 or 7 years old and it was with him that I started to make my first drawings. The guiding principle of all the work is to ask why this work and how far it can go.
César Malfi - Urban Artist
"I said to myself that I was not going to talk about the same thing anymore".
From the age of 15, he started tagging in the streets of Nice or in "abandoned houses" with his gang of friends. Until the day when the young artist was almost killed by an electric shock: "We went to a railway track, we wanted to do the biggest painting that had ever been done in our area and that meant taking risks," he recalls. We started painting with big poles and I hit mine into the train's electric cables.
An accident that earned him a week of heart tests, several burns and three months on crutches. This is also why he likes graffiti, for "the adrenaline and the challenge".
But this anecdote is ultimately the starting point for a new way of drawing.I saw my life flash by," says the man from Nice. I told myself that I was not going to talk about the same thing any more, that I was not going to put my life at stake just for myself. It's when you lose your existence that you realise how much weight you can have by existing.
"This is where the mission is fulfilled for me
César Malfi draws his inspiration from the great masterpieces. His niche? To reinterpret them by adapting them to the current context. History: "it's what makes [his] heart beat". He wants to give street art its full meaning, that of maintaining social links..
"I create a lot depending on the viewer and the place where I am going to paint. The development of women's rights - even if this word should not even exist - is a cause I defend. With the current situation in Iran, for example, there is a real message to be conveyed and that's why this fresco represents everything that is strongest in a woman. In this neighbourhood, it makes sense because we are dealing with a public that does not have access to art. The aim is also to bring them new perceptions of life.
During its creation in Les Moulins, on Martin Luther King Avenue, all the kids in the neighbourhood called out to him. "You could see that they had never seen this type of work. That's when the mission was accomplished for me.
The choice of location is obviously not insignificant. Four blocks away is the local police station. There are two worlds separating them with two different atmospheres," recalls the artist. It's a sensitive area and that's why the work has its place there.
Taking street art off the street?
But his playground is not only the public space and César Malfi also knows how to make the big splits: he has notably invested the walls of the Château de Crémât, a luxurious vineyard built in 1906, with a fresco that refers to the history of Nice. "I wondered how street art could be transposed from the street to an ultra-protected place like a castle. And this link is made by the human being and the meaning that one gives to one's work," he says.
At 27, he has only one ambition: to leave his mark, to make art accessible to all. "That's why I do it, what motivates me to get up in the morning. This self-taught man - he has no artistic training - was formed "by life". This is where his art finally takes on its full meaning: it is for everyone.One of his colleagues goes so far as to nickname him "Maestro", given his "almost perfect" technical skills.
Plusieurs autres projets sont en cours : se rendre en Amérique du Sud et travailler avec l’une des pâtisseries niçoises les plus emblématiques. Des collaborations qui demandent des mois de travail en amont.
In March, he will exhibit his works at the Nice-Cimiez Archaeology Museumin his childhood neighbourhood. "At home", smiles César Malfi.
By Manon REINHARDT