Sean Hart

Update 2 (June 2012): Sean Hart has gotten in touch again to insist that all of his work is painted physically rather than made using image-editing software. He sent us more photos of his work in progress. One of these photos looks very real. It appears to be a tightly cropped in-progress shot for a piece in the Shine series which we have not seen the finished version of.

Update: Sean Hart has told us that all of these pieces were physically painted as depicted. He has sent us photos of his “Love Fearless.” piece in progress. Caroline and I think those photos look more likely to be photoshopped than the finished piece. So, once again, I ask if it matters if he physically painted the work or not. Hart seems to think it does and would like anyone reading this post to believe that the pieces were painted as depicted.

Sean Hart is a French street artist who seems to specialize in tumblr-friendly work, and I mean that in the best possible way. Like Banksy, his work always seems ready to go viral. At the same time, Hart’s manifesto/bio seems to be trying to say that he is much more than just another potential viral flavor-of-the-month but rather a street artist who actually does more than watch Exit Through the Gift Shop and start putting up stencils (and he’s actually been working outdoors for years). Anyway, here’s a bit of what he has done after the jump…

Hart’s website says this piece is legit. I’m not sure it really was painted. But I’m not sure it’s important either way. Thoughts?

Photos by Sean Hart