Clet – Finding Florence

written & photographed by Kathleen Morris

This blog feature is an exclusive bonus installment to our Spring issue of Blending Magazine. After you finish reading, be sure to explore the rest of the magazine online—just follow this link to download the full Spring 2025 edition:
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How many stories can a single office avocado tell?

As I set my laptop onto Clet Abraham’s cluttered desk, I took inventory of its miscellaneous contents: an avocado, a glass with a solitary drop of red wine left behind and an array of art supplies – pencils, cutting tools and scattered pages filled with cartoonish sketches.

I set my cellphone atop a strip of stickers depicting bright pink sausages, thumb hovering over the record button – ready to capture every bit of wisdom from the infamous street artist who I was face-to-face with at last.

The conversation was highly anticipated. Earlier that morning, after exchanging a flurry of WhatsApp messages with an employee at his Florence studio—including a pointed warning not to address him by his full name, Jean-Marie Clet Abraham—I stepped into the cluttered space – I made the trek across Ponte alle Grazie to his studio on a sun-soaked Monday afternoon.

Tiptoeing down the sidewalk, I realized I didn’t need to consult Google Maps to know I had arrived. I followed a wall plastered in a chaotic assortment of stickers – a street artist’s rendition of the yellow brick road.

My instincts were conﬁrmed by the street sign placed just above the door, reimagined to depict a tiny ﬁgure ﬂying through the air, its grip tight on the tip of the white arrow.

The use of street signs has become a trademark of Clet’s art.

Originally from France, Clet has now claimed Florence itself as his canvas.

I first encountered his work by the Medici Palace. With crooked eyes and a corkscrew neck, a portrait of childhood whimsy is plastered onto a traffic sign, its head formed by diverging arrows. In the following days, I began to train my vision to spot Clet’s characters tucked into every corner of this historic city.

My article joins countless attempts to profile the elusive artist, who has earned celebrity status (and over 160k Instagram followers) in a destination that echoes with the voices of the Renaissance.

I sought to understand the path of the man who sat across from me, salt-and-pepper hair draped across his forehead and backdropped by a wall of unfinished masterpieces.

The son of creative parents, he recalled his earliest inclination to art.

“When I was young, I used art to be free,” Clet said. “I don’t care about art. I care about freedom.”

Today, his urban installations serve as an outlet for self-expression and a medium for political commentary. With a rebellious flair, he inspires dialogue about pressing social issues and individual rights. Behind his desk, a sign was spray-painted with the colors of the Palestinian flag. The artwork, created in collaboration with the Art for Gaza Collective, exemplifies Clet’s efforts to garner a reaction from and activate the public.

“I don’t think I am the owner of my ideas,” he mused, reflecting on the essence of collaboration he shares with those who engage with his work. “The ideas pass through me,” he said, describing his ability to sculpt messages and inspire his community to think outside the box.

Clet refuses to be conﬁned by artistic boundaries, finding fulfillment in working beyond the walls of traditional museums.

“I don’t work with galleries,” he underscored. “The best place is always the street.”

Clet navigates the gray area between creating impactful art and defacing public spaces. The allure of street art lies in the ambiguity of this ruleless game – a game that Clet has mastered on a global scale, often operating under the cover of night.

“In the United States, I always [install art] at night because I don’t want the police to stop me,” he revealed. “I don’t want to have a big problem and lose my plane ticket to go back home.”

In a perfect world, city authorities would recognize the positive aspects of his work. He imagines that increased acceptance would act like a “business card,” allowing him to explore cities that are “more difficult, where there is less democracy.”

Until then, Clet can be found cloaked in darkness or in the safety of his studio at Via dell’Olmo, 8r in Florence.

Before I exited his sticker-clad oasis, I gathered two pieces of advice from Clet for aspiring artists: embrace your originality, and when working on the streets, it’s best to be a little drunk.

For more information, visit Clet’s website or follow Clet on Instagram (@cletabraham).

written by Makayla Sims

There’s a new renaissance brewing in Florence.

Let me explain. The city of Florence is known for its Renaissance art, right? Sculptures, paintings, architecture – regardless of where you step in this city, you are acutely aware of the reason for its namesake, the Capital of Artists. But when you take a look past the surface level, deep into the hidden parts of Florence, you’ll see that these artists people talk about are not just from the Renaissance. Down almost every street, you will see street art, graffiti tags, paper mache, statues, and paint. Artists like Clet, Blub, Lediesis, Exit/Enter, and so many others I can’t even begin to name them all, are the makers of this modern renaissance. Like those that came before, these artists have creativity to indulge and messages to spread. But unlike the renaissance of old, the substance of these messages will, and have, resonate with the masses.

Before I delve into some artists and their themes, I want to contemporarily define art. It is important to note that art, specifically street art, has always been used as a way to stick it to the man and rage against the machine. It is the language of the people, of those who have no other means but to create. Art always has been, and always will be, emotionally, socially, and politically relevant.

Clet is a prime example of an artist who falls under this category. One of his most prevalent statues, the Common Man, lends itself to this image.

However, this art piece has more of a complicated history. This piece was originally created and published in 2014, but was later taken down by authorities and given back to him (as it was not “legal”). However, after recieving a fine, Clet decided to reinstate this statue, regardless of the repercussions. After receiving another fine and citation, Clet decided to challenge this decision in the courts, ultimately winning and allowing this monument to remain standing in 2021. This story is ultimately one of resistance and protest. In the true fashion of an artist, Clet went against the grain to ensure that his message was heard.

What is that message? Well, this piece is used to highlight the neglect that the common man receives, and thus the challenges he faces day to day. Clet’s Common Man provides us with an image of this man stepping off into the river, ready to face the end. When this sculpture was put up once more, this piece took on a hopeful, inspiring outlook. Like many pieces of street work, the art itself takes on a life of its own once it was thrust out of the artist’s hands and into those of the public.

Other artists like Exit/Enter and Blub also reflect a social message within their work. Exit/Enter uses depictions of little stick figures and red ink to, once again, tell the struggle of the common man. In Exit/Enter’s pieces, we consistently see this figure drawn in a relatively juvenile manner – and from the crayon drawings (listed above) or the handwriting used – we can see that he does this on purpose. But what is he trying to say? Exit/Enter’s message is one of hope and love. His work says to the people, the only way we can get through it all, is to have a little positivity. Using the non-detailed drawings and handwriting (like those reminiscent of a young child), we can infer that he uses that to play off of the perceived naivety that often comes with that line of thinking.

Blub’s message is a similar one. His works can be found all around Florence, with prevalent renaissance figures painted in blue and donning scuba/diving gear. His theme is that even though we are underwater- financially, socially, emotionally, politically- we will meet whatever may come. His work instills on the viewers that the unknown of the future can only truly be met with love.

Tag: Clet

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