Antoine Martinet MioSHe, The Tree of Knowledge

In front of you is The Tree of Knowledge by a street artist MioSHe. MioSHe is a pseudonym of Antoine Martinet, a street art painter and illustrator fr om Rennes, France. Antoine got classical art education, and he became keen on graffiti, when he was at school. Works of Hieronymus Bosch and iconic masters of the Russian avant-garde movement – Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky had a great influence on the artist. He has tried his hand in most diverse art genres and directions: he created labels for wine bottles, covers for vinyl records and posters, plus giant frescos for the cultural center Antipode in his native Rennes.

Antoine says the following about his work: “When I work in public places, I try to do things that the public will receive positively. I paint no provocative things. But at the same time, I strive not to restrain myself. It is very important to strike the right balance between what you want to show and what the public will receive well. I always consider the place wh ere I work: a wall, a quarter, a city, its history. And when I learnt that I would paint on the wall of the university, I decided to create The Tree of Knowledge, a tree which does not exist in nature, which I imagined.” The work appeared thanks to the project Alliance Française – Rostov Region, which supports development of culture and art in the city’s space. By the way, according to Antoine, Rostov-on-Don has high potential for developing street art. We cannot but agree with it.