UNREADABLE : NIELS 'SHOE' MEULMAN & BANDO

17 May - 15 June 2025

Unreadable, is an unprecedented exhibition that reunites two giants of European graffiti: Niels 'Shoe' Meulman and Philipp 'Bando' Lehman. Conceived in secret and revealed for the first time to the public, Unreadable is more than an art show — it's a turning point in the history of graffiti, a dialogue between writing and abstraction, and a celebration of the roots of European hip-hop culture.

Back in 1985, they were among the first to paint together on the streets of Paris — Shoe coming from Amsterdam, and Bando moving between Paris and New York. Their encounter sparked a unique creative synergy, laying the foundations of what could be seen as the first international graffiti movement. Together with a few like-minded pioneers, they gave birth to a European style deeply rooted in the New York tradition, yet distinctly their own.

Now, forty years later, they reunite — carrying the weight and wisdom of a shared past — not to look back, but to push forward. Unreadable is the culmination of their lifelong dialogue, a powerful tribute to what lies at the core of graffiti: the illegible, the immediate, the raw energy of the mark.

Featuring:

Carlos Mare, Jonone, Skki, Risote, Sneha, Vincent De Boer
And More
The Meeting of Two Legends

The story begins in the early 1980s, when Philipp Lehman, known as Bando, a Parisian from a privileged background with a passion for New York street culture, discovered graffiti during frequent visits to the U.S. Inspired by artists like Seen and Dondi White, Bando returned to Paris and brought the raw energy of American graffiti with him. In 1983, he founded the Bomb Squad 2 and began to build the foundations of a Parisian graffiti scene.

It was around this time that he met a young Dutch writer named Niels 'Shoe' Meulman, a rising figure in the Amsterdam scene. Shoe had started tagging as early as 1979 and was already known for his bold lettering and unique style. Drawn together by mutual respect and a shared obsession for letterforms, Bando and Shoe forged an artistic alliance that would shape the course of graffiti in Europe. Along with British legend Mode 2, they co-founded CTK (Crime Time Kings), a transnational graffiti crew that marked the beginning of European graffiti's golden era.
A must see video to understand the context
WRITERS "20 years of Graffiti in Paris 1983 - 2003" by Marc-Aurèle Vecchione
A Cultural Revolution in Letters

While Bando was transforming Parisian walls with intricate block letters and chromes, Shoe was developing what would later become Calligraffiti — a groundbreaking blend of classical calligraphy and graffiti. His exploration of fluid brush strokes, ancient scripts, and contemporary street energy redefined what writing could be in an artistic context.

In parallel, Bando was carving his legacy with unshakable integrity. Refusing to commodify his art for galleries, he remained loyal to the streets, creating monumental works in train yards, tunnels, and along the Seine. His pieces were precise, explosive, and always authentic — earning him recognition in Spraycan Art (1987), the bible of early graffiti.

Both artists contributed not only to the stylistic evolution of graffiti, but also to its legitimization as a form of cultural expression in Europe. They trained and inspired entire generations — from JonOne to the modern vanguards of urban art.
Bando and Shoe, photographed by Hugo Vitrani

ABSTRACTION AS THE ULTIMATE TRANSGRESSION:
GRAFFITI AND THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE SIGN
If graffiti was born out of a need for recognition—to write one’s name, claim territory, affirm existence in public space—the exhibition Unreadable proposes a radical break from this origin. By making illegibility a field of exploration, Shoe and Bando are not abandoning graffiti; rather, they reveal a deeper essence—one of a liberated gesture, freed from language, closer to pure pictorial act. But what does it mean to render graffiti unreadable? Is it a loss of meaning, or, on the contrary, a return to a more universal language, beyond codes and symbols?

Writing and Its Erasure: A Graphic Paradox

In art history, abstraction has often been seen as a deconstruction of the visible. Kandinsky, in Concerning the Spiritual in Art, argued that painting should free itself from anecdote and object to achieve a pure inner vibration. One might see in this quest a parallel with what Unreadable proposes: an emancipation of graffiti from the word and the letter, not to deny its origin, but to extract a deeper, more visceral essence.

Yet, where Kandinsky drew inspiration from music for his lyrical abstraction, abstract graffiti emerges from the urgency of writing. In this sense, it aligns more closely with Henri Michaux, the poet and painter who saw in his graphic traces a way to "write differently"—not to communicate, but to make one feel. Unreadable seems to follow this same dynamic: what remains of writing when it is stripped of its readability? Can it still speak, or does it become pure sensation?

Graffiti as an Urban Palimpsest

Since its beginnings, graffiti has always flirted with abstraction. It is often forgotten that a tag is more a sign than a word—an impulse, a rhythm, an echo of the body in motion. The walls of cities are palimpsests, layers of writing that overlap, merge, and eventually form a living, almost organic material.

Roland Barthes, in Empire of Signs, spoke of the fascination with Japanese calligraphy, where the stroke conveys meaning beyond the written word. Similarly, abstract graffiti creates a space of tension between what is shown and what is hidden, between what seeks to be read and what refuses any attempt at interpretation.

Unreadable: Toward an Instinctive Abstraction

In Unreadable, Shoe and Bando, each in their own way, deconstruct the letter to reduce it to its essential form—a visual shock, a raw force. Shoe’s Calligraffiti, which blends typographic precision with gestural spontaneity, resonates with Bando’s more radical approach, where lettering dissolves into a minimal graphic structure. One plays with calligraphy as a discipline, the other with the fragmentation of the word, but both converge toward an instinctive abstraction, rooted in gesture and pure energy.

Ultimately, Unreadable raises a profound question: is writing a starting point or an obstacle? Must it be transcended to reach a freer form of painting? In erasing the word, do we not paradoxically rediscover speech itself?

In a world saturated with images and messages, where everything is designed to be instantly understood, Unreadable challenges the very notion of readability and invites us to a more physical, more intimate relationship with art. Perhaps the unreadable is not a loss of meaning, but an opening to new forms of perception.
ABOUT ARTIST SHOE

Niels 'Shoe' Meulman, born in the Netherlands in 1967, is a true pioneer of European graffiti. In the 1980s, he was among the first to import and adapt the aesthetics of New York graffiti to Europe while developing his own distinctive style. He is best known for inventing the concept of Calligraffiti, a unique fusion of traditional calligraphy and the raw energy of graffiti. His work has influenced generations of artists and continues to redefine the relationship between text and abstraction.
ABOUT ARTIST BANDO

Bando, born in France in 1965, is widely recognized as the man who introduced American graffiti to France. Directly influenced by the New York scene, he established an innovative style and structured the first generation of French graffiti artists, laying the foundation for a movement that would leave a lasting mark on the history of urban art in Europe. A central figure in 1980s hip-hop, his influence extends far beyond the streets: he pioneered a style that is both radical and sophisticated, making him an undeniable reference in the field. His return today is a historic event.
From Writing to Unreadable

With Unreadable, Shoe and Bando take their legacy one step further. The exhibition is the fruit of a deep investigation into the origins of hip-hop in Europe and the mutation of graffiti into an expressive, almost abstract art form.

The works on view explore the tension between text and gesture, meaning and form. By pushing their letters to the edge of recognizability — even past it — they engage the viewer in a visual rhythm that transcends language.

As Bando once said: “A good piece is legible when you pass by fast in a car.” In Unreadable, legibility is challenged, exploded, and reassembled into something visceral and pure.
A MUST-SEE EVENT

More than four decades after they helped define what graffiti could be, Shoe and Bando return — not in nostalgia, but in revolution. Unreadable is their manifesto for the future: a celebration of roots, a break with convention, and an invitation to see graffiti no longer as words, but as energy, impact, and emotion.

From Paris to Amsterdam, from subway tunnels to museum walls, from tags to abstraction — Unreadable traces a journey that changed contemporary art forever.

be today.

For urban art enthusiasts, hip-hop history aficionados, or curious minds seeking a raw and immersive visual experience, "Unreadable" is an unmissable event. An exhibition secretly prepared for months, bringing together some of the most influential figures in contemporary visual culture, it will undoubtedly mark a turning point in the perception of this art form.

MORE RESSOURCES

Enjoy additional media articles and contents to know more about the artists

	VIDEO : Bando, Pionnier du graffiti
	VIDEO : Lindisfarne Gospels Presents Calligraffiti by Niels Shoe Meulman
	PRESS : Télérama - Bando, pionnier du graffiti français
	PRESS : Niels “Shoe” Meulman Reminisces

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Join us at Danysz gallery from May 17 to June 15, 2025, and witness a moment of urban art history in the making.

Free entry, Tuesday to Saturday, 2–6 PM
Danysz | Marais, 78 rue Amelot, Paris
www.danyszgallery.com
Press contact: info@danyszgallery.com