French street artist Combo says he was beaten up

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/06/french-street-artist-combo-beaten-up

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The young French street artist Combo, known for his topical graffiti around Paris, has revealed that he was beaten up in Paris while putting up his latest work: a picture of himself standing next to the word “coexist”, written with religious symbols.

He wrote on his Facebook page that he was knocked to the ground and repeatedly beaten by a group of men as he was pasting up some art on a Paris street late at night. He tried to defend himself from the beating.

“Tired that I wasn’t giving up, they left me bleeding and ran off. They promised me the same treatment if I started again and advised me to shave off my beard.” He said that despite threats he would continue to post his work around Paris streets.

Combo, born in the northern town of Amiens, to a Lebanese Christian father and a Moroccan Muslim mother, is seen as a symbol of the diversity of French society – he was present at the vast Paris street demonstration of solidarity after January’s terrorist attacks and since then has been trying to use street art to blast cultural stereotypes.

After his beating in Paris, he told Le Monde his work was about giving a voice to people who felt they were misunderstood.

His recent work includes pictures around Paris of himself wearing Muslim dress standing next to his own spray-painted comments, such as “did you know Muslims finish their prayers ‘amen’ like Christians and Jews” or “there are 50,000 Muslim soldiers in France”.

In Lebanon, his work includes pieces saying “Less Hamas, more hummus”; in LA he made street art collages called “Everybody smokes”; in Hong Kong, he pasted censored Google pages on walls.

“My pieces work in a disruptive way, they surprise. They are where they shouldn’t be.”