Rast

Julien Ripert, who signs as Rast, is a painter from the Yvelines based in Saint-Cyr-l'École. Self-taught, he started lettering in his school exercise books at twelve and painting at fourteen, then moved from tagging and graffiti to large-format murals.

His style combines detailed realism with very dense textures and bright colours, with a preference for portraiture. He has also developed a process of his own, which he calls mechanical painting: murals whose elements are set in motion by a technical device powered by renewable energy.

That hybrid of mural painting and mechanics is rare, and it shifts the question of the support: a mural that moves is no longer quite an image, it becomes a device. His walls are found in France, the United States, Latin America, Spain and Italy.