Jinks Kunst - BATMAN - VOISINS VIGILANTS

"Batman, the Guardian of Gotham" is an urban artwork that ingeniously reinterprets an everyday object to give it a new meaning. Created by Jinks Kunst using the precise technique of hand-cut stencils, this piece is painted directly on a "Voisins Vigilants" sign, creating a powerful visual commentary on surveillance and justice.

Key elements of the work:

The Support: The 'Voisins Vigilants' Panel: The work is applied to a rectangular, yellow traffic sign from the 'Voisins Vigilants' program. The original text is partially visible, but the artist subtly altered it to fit the Batman universe. One can read 'GOTHAM CITY' at the top of the panel, replacing the original inscription, and the program's logo is replaced by a stylized version of the bat symbol. This subversive use of the sign turns a civic safety initiative into an artistic statement about urban protection.

The Character: Batman: At the center of the composition, the iconic Batman is depicted in a determined pose. His gray and black suit, with the famous bat symbol on his chest, is painted with great precision. His gaze is piercing and his face, half in shadow, expresses his determination to protect the city.

The Conceptual Fusion: the combination of Batman, an anonymous vigilante, and the 'Voisins Vigilants' sign is at the heart of the work. It draws a direct and ironic parallel between neighborhood surveillance and the mythical figure of the Dark Knight. The stylized eye on the original sign, barely visible, reinforces this idea of constant surveillance.

The Stencil Technique: The sharp outlines of Batman, the shadows, and the blocks of color testify to mastery of the hand-cut stencil technique. The artist has managed to adapt this technique so that the character blends perfectly with the medium, as if it were an integral part of it.

Interpretation and Appeal:

This work is a strong and original piece that invites reflection on justice, surveillance, and the identity of the urban hero. It will appeal to urban art collectors, fans of comics, and those who appreciate works that repurpose everyday objects to create a powerful artistic message.

Jinks' hijinks are originally performed in the street. You can discover them in more than 40 countries.

For this subversion, Jinks used a French sign.

Biography
Born in 1976 in Vevey, Switzerland, Jinks Kunst is a Franco-Swiss street artist based in Nantes, where he lives and works. His universe takes root in an adolescence deeply marked by hip-hop culture and the raw energy of skateboarding. Through magazines, fanzines, or even album covers, he discovers graffiti and illustration very early. Initially drawn to graffiti lettering, he progressively broadens his practice, nourished by experimentation and the street.

Over the years, his work has taken on multiple forms: collages of paintings made on paper, stickers, frescoes, and the subversion of traffic signs. He explores a wide range of supports, from walls to urban panels, but also wood, skateboard decks, and vinyl records. From the early 2000s, his works have been regularly exhibited in France as well as abroad. They are included in several private collections and appear in numerous international books devoted to street art, testifying to a career already firmly established in the contemporary urban scene.

For Jinks Kunst, the street is not only a place of exhibition: it is a necessity. His work sits there as a living trace, and his stencils, posters, stickers and paintings are now found in 44 countries, across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. These journeys are always accompanied by the same approach: walking long, observing, looking for the right walls, the right panels, the right places. But they are above all opportunities for strong encounters with local populations and local artists. In this approach, urban art becomes a tool for social connection and a means to act concretely. Jinks Kunst regularly commits to volunteer actions, with audiences who have little or no access to this form of cultural expression. In shantytowns, refugee camps, working-class neighborhoods or schools, he organizes stencil-creation workshops, sharing his know-how as a bridge between cultures and realities.

The year 2006 marks a decisive turning point: he discovers stencil art, which immediately becomes a revelation and a lasting passion. His work is distinguished by entirely handmade production. Armed with a cutter, he cuts with extreme precision, for hours, his photographs or drawings of characters. His inspiration is vast and free, drawing from current events as well as politics, literature, urban cultures, or the animal world. In January 2008, he begins in Nantes a series of subversions of traffic signs, a practice that will quickly become emblematic of his work and that he would later carry out in many countries.

His career is marked by notable projects. In 2015, he created several paintings in the Sidi Moumen slum in Casablanca, Morocco, in collaboration with the association Street Art Sans Frontière. The following year, he joined the Prasad project of the Art Lab association in Kathmandu, Nepal, which organizes street art workshops. To close the event in Beni, he created a tribute mural to Mahabir Pun, a Nepalese teacher known for his work installing Wi-Fi in remote areas of the Himalayas. This work takes the form of a monumental portrait measuring 2.5 meters by 4.3 meters.

In 2017, as part of the Cambodia Urban Art festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he creates a work in tribute to the film Les Pépites by Xavier de Lauzanne, shot in that same city. This project allows him to meet the director, interested in his approach and universe. In 2019, he organizes the volunteer project “Alibi” in collaboration with several local organizations. With the Solid’Art International association, he works in Iraqi Kurdistan as well as in various refugee camps: Chatila in Beirut, then Marj and Bar Elias in the Bekaa Plain in Lebanon. The project aims to paint with the local population, but above all alongside the refugees, giving rise to moments of intense collective creation that are profoundly human.

Alongside his on-the-ground work, his art continues to establish itself in major artistic events. In 2021, he was among the 76 artists selected from 2,300 applicants to participate in the Paris Graffiti and Street Art Prize 2021. In 2022, he participated, with 25 artists, in the 'Road Map' exhibition organized by Colors Festival in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. In 2023, he took part in the Secours populaire’s contemporary art fair 'Solid’Art' at the Carreau du Temple, a charitable event mobilizing artists to support the association's actions. In the same year, he donated 11 works to the CHU de Nantes endowment fund, intended for an auction whose aim is to raise funds to finance projects related to health, sport, research, inclusion, and art.

2024 marks an important milestone with a new solo exhibition at La Graffiti Compagnie in Le Pouliguen, confirming a steadfast connection with this space of expression. He also participates in several large-scale group exhibitions, notably the Colors Festival in Tours and the solidarity event C’est de la bombe at Empreinte Galerie in Orléans. His work also travels to the Baart Gallery in Bari, Italy, to the Une Vision Singulière Gallery in Hénon, to Shack in Paris, as well as to the Shake Art Festival in Saint-Brieuc, a must-attend event on the urban scene.

In 2025, his artistic activity becomes considerably more intense. He presents three solo exhibitions, at Galerie Morphose and New Eye in Nantes, as well as at Undercover in Saint-Nazaire. In parallel, he participates in several engaged and thematic collective projects, among which Art for Gaza at Sanctuary Gallery in the United Kingdom, Faites vos jeux in Orléans, or another exhibition at the Musée Collection Bien Jouet. He also renews his presence at the Colors Festival in Tours, at the Baart Gallery in Italy, and at La Graffiti Compagnie for the exhibition Y a pas de mâle !.

On the ground, that same year was punctuated by major international interventions. Jinks Kunst participates notably in the first Meeting of Styles in Yeumbeul, Senegal, the Zagreb Street Art Festival in Croatia, as well as the Paste Up Festival in Grenoble. Invited by the Institut Français to Vientiane, Laos, as part of the Cycle Patrimoine program, he continues his artistic exploration around the world. In France, he works on emblematic sites, such as Le Corbusier's Maison Radieuse in Rezé for its seventieth anniversary, participates in the Collège fou fou fou project in Ille-et-Vilaine, and shines at the jam DKA / D77 in Paris.

Between social engagement, travel, urban interventions, and exhibitions, Jinks Kunst builds a singular, demanding, and deeply human body of work. His approach, rooted in the street but open to the world, transforms walls and urban signs into spaces of storytelling, memory, and dialogue, and invites continued exploration of his universe beyond each work encountered.