“Painting children having fun in a world on the brink of collapse has extraordinary evocative power”.
Uniting global childhoods
SETH uses street art to highlight societal issues. A passionate, political artist, his main subjects are innocent children at play. He depicts fun illusions, where books and toys appear as symbols of escape into the imagination – a key tool for survival in poverty or war zones. For his street murals, he often uses the Trompe l’oeil technique, where a flat surface appears to be 3D. SETH often begins these murals by sketching directly on site. He then paints the giant, colourful scenes on a crane lift, using a mix of aerosol spray and brushwork.
SETH aims to serve the people where his murals are...
SETH uses street art to highlight societal issues. A passionate, political artist, his main subjects are innocent children at play. He depicts fun illusions, where books and toys appear as symbols of escape into the imagination – a key tool for survival in poverty or war zones. For his street murals, he often uses the Trompe l’oeil technique, where a flat surface appears to be 3D. SETH often begins these murals by sketching directly on site. He then paints the giant, colourful scenes on a crane lift, using a mix of aerosol spray and brushwork.
SETH aims to serve the people where his murals are placed. His ideas often come from the local architecture and inhabitants. To do this, he involves the community and creates a dialogue with affected children. In 2019, he twice visited a school in Popasna, a war-torn area in Ukraine. There he created workshops that led to his large-scale mural Keep in touch (2019). In it, a girl and a boy hold hands – despite a crumbling wall dividing them. While advertising billboards promote consumerism as the route to happiness, Globalpainter's epic public art shares alternative values –; connectivity, social care and imagination.
Bio
SETH (he/him) was born in 1972 in Paris, where he lives and works.
TV Shows
SETH was the author and director of Les nouveaux explorateurs. A French TV series that he presented, produced by Canal+. Each show focused on a country and its local street artists – with accompanying Spotify playlists.
Publishing
In 2000, SETH published Kapital: Un an de graffiti à Paris. It was a best-selling book about French urban artists – sold through his self-founded publishing house Wasted Talent, specialising in street art.
