Miss Van

The very moment that one's gaze meets one of the slightly sinister, come-hither stares of les poupées, a frisson of pure sex seems to shimmy right up the canvas's frame. With their old-fashioned pin-up poses and exposed flesh, they seem destined to become objects of scrutiny, if not obsession, as all exquisitely mysterious women invariably are. Miss Van encountered a certain amount of political censorship in her early experience painting in her native Toulouse, with one ardent objector blackening out the faces of her characters, and the scrawls of outraged feminists appearing elsewhere. She is careful to point out, though, that that criticism came from outside the graffiti scene, and that her freedom as an artist is central to her work: "I just want to express my fantasy."

An artist from a young age, Miss Van dedicated herself to art school and graffiti at the same time, and made no efforts to hide her love for street art from her professors. In the early 1990s, she began tagging and going around with friends. It was not long before she began to develop her trademark "sexy, erotic images that will disturb or seduce people on the street." She likes to explore the symbiotic relationship between artist and public space, especially the fact that she can deposit images freely into a fully engaged environment and thereby encourage a heightened level of interplay between the viewer and her work.

She moved to Barcelona about a year ago - "the last place in Europe where it was cool to paint." When she visits a new city, she tries to paint and indulge her urge to "leave something, like a memory; I was here." Miss Van laments overly strict historic preservation codes in France that prevent graffiti artists from leaving their mark, as opposed to the U.S., where there are fewer rules governing private and public space. In the states for a few weeks this time around, she mentions that she is missing friends in Barcelona and her adopted way of life. She is homesick for her bicycle and a short ride down to the sea.

Miss Van has so far resisted the pressure to become a brand first and an artist second. Other than experimenting with a collaborative project for Fornarina, she seldom takes on projects outside the immediate sphere of her drawings and paintings. In a refreshing display of candor, she is not shy at all about her stance at the intersection between art and commerce, noting, "I don't want to make so many products. I don't want to become a brand. I am just an artist."

Upcoming gallery shows in Los Angeles and Paris ensure that Miss Van's work will be well represented in the art world, if not the marketplace by choice. And, of course, you never know what you'll find around the corner or at the end of that forbiddingly dark alley. Watching, waiting - les poupées- and of course, whispering: don't be shy.

Lauren Cerand writes about art, politics and style in New York.