Saype: Beyond walls

Young French artist Guillaume Legros, aka Saype, has already proved his worth, and is no stranger to the art scene. In 2018, his self-financed project in support of the SOS Méditerranée association, created in the heart of Geneva, was seen by 120 million people worldwide. In 2019, Forbes named him one of the thirty most influential people under thirty in art and culture. In 2022, he took part in the official program of the Venice Biennale. In 2024, he plans to take part in the Urban Vision exhibition at the Jupiter Museum of Art in Shenzhen (China), underlining his growing influence in the international art world. But before that, from April 26 to June 15, 2024, Galerie Danysz presents Saype's first Paris exhibition. 

Known for his monumental frescoes created on the ground, mainly on grass, Saype stands out for his comprehensive artistic approach, as demonstrated by his ephemeral installations. Following in the footsteps of such greats as Robert Smithson, Jeanne Claude and Christo, and Andres Amador, Saype's Land art is impressive, combining monumental ephemeral works with perennial ones that capture the essence of his performances - from photographs to remnant fragments, to abstract pixels derived from his artistic process.

Saype's humanist commitment has led him to launch a global project in 2019, entirely self-financed: to symbolically create the world's largest human chain by repeatedly painting a pattern of intertwined, united hands. Undertaken over several years, this ambitious project entitled "Beyond Walls" began at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and now includes 19 stages, from Ouagadougou to Istanbul, via Cape Town, the United Nations headquarters in New York, and Venice as part of the 2022 Biennale.
Following in the footsteps of other Land art artists, Saype has taken up the idea of nomadic art on a global scale. Today, he is the only artist to carry out this type of intervention using this technique, on this scale, on this type of natural support (vegetation, sand, snow) and in so many countries around the world.
Yet the artist doesn't turn his back on more urban environments, and doesn't hesitate to take temporary possession of the bits of nature that cities still manage to preserve in the form of parks or shorelines.