Love on the beat

🎨 Artwork Information Sheet

Title of the Work: Love on the beat

Artist(s): Fair Fab (visible signature in the bottom right)
Medium: Mural art, digital collage, graffiti, typography, mixed media
Date: Contemporary (post-2020)

Description of the Artwork

This vibrant and chaotic mural pays tribute to Serge Gainsbourg, an iconic figure in French music and a master of artistic provocation. The composition functions as a visual palimpsest, layered with stylized portraits of Gainsbourg, fragmented typography (notably “Le Gainsbourg”), colorful slogans, dense graffiti, and overlapping textures. The phrase "LOVE ON THE BEAT", referencing one of his controversial albums, appears as a focal textual element.

The visual style combines street art, pop art, and digital collage techniques, evoking the spirit of urban walls layered with fan messages—a direct nod to the Rue de Verneuil wall, a Parisian landmark covered with tributes to Gainsbourg since his passing in 1991.

Artistic Influences

• Jean-Michel Basquiat: in the raw energy, scribbled text, and bold, spontaneous colors

• Andy Warhol: through repeated portraiture and pop-art-style silkscreen aesthetics

• Banksy / Contemporary Street Art: for its poetic yet subversive mural language

• Gainsbourg's Universe: decadence, sensuality, rebellion, poetic urban grit

Curator’s Note

"This artwork is a beautifully orchestrated chaos, much like Serge Gainsbourg himself. Between visual disorder and artistic precision, Fair Fab captures the essence of the man—genius, outsider, poet, and provocateur. The viewer is invited to get lost in this layered maze of colors, gazes, and words, just as one might lose themselves in the collective memory of French music."