Which French street artist is famous for his stencil portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Che Guevara? The answer is Jef Aérosol.
Jef Aérosol is the pseudonym of Jean-François Perroy, a French stencil artist associated with the first generation of France’s modern street-art movement. He made his first stencil in Tours in 1982 and became known for monochrome portraits of cultural icons, including Marilyn Monroe and Che Guevara, as well as musicians, children, passers-by, and other anonymous people.
His images are usually built from black, white, and gray spray paint. The signature detail is a bright red arrow, which appears beside or across many of his works. His famous Sitting Kid, a contemplative young figure, has appeared in cities around the world and is often more representative of his practice than any single celebrity portrait.
Aérosol is sometimes confused with Blek le Rat or C215 because all three are prominent French stencil artists. However, Aérosol belongs to an earlier wave: he worked alongside pioneers such as Blek le Rat, Miss.Tic, and Epsylon Point during the 1980s. He was also a musician and formerly taught English.