FROM THE STREETS OF GRENOBLE TO OUR LIVING ROOM

The French Connection: Spotting P*NM in the Wild

In August 2024, during a small camping trip near Grenoble, France, our urban exploration instincts led us to an incredible find. Amidst our usual hunt for abandoned spaces and fleeting street interventions, we stumbled upon a striking piece that instantly demanded our attention.

A masterfully executed paste-up applied directly onto a front page of Le Monde. The piece features a stylized, iconic rat sporting a classic French beret and a turtleneck—a brilliant, self-aware nod to the roots of French stencil art, signed by the artist Click, now known globally as P*NM.

About the Artist: P*NM (Formerly Click Street Art)

Born in Paris in 1983, P*NM is a prominent voice in contemporary French street art. His creative journey began in the early 2000s within the digital realm and urban subcultures, where he initially founded his own streetwear clothing brand.

Driven by the stencil revolution and heavily inspired by international icons such as Invader, Jef Aérosol, Miss.Tic, and Banksy, P*NM transformed himself into a self-taught stencil master. His signature style seamlessly blends clean, multi-layered cutting techniques with raw urban textures, frequently repurposing print media and historical pop icons to subvert everyday reality.

Bringing the Street Home: The 7-Inch Shellac Mystery

While the brilliant Le Monde rat remains standard heritage of the French streets, we knew we couldn’t leave empty-handed. Intrigued by his graphic clean lines, we reached out directly to the artist.

The result of that connection now sits proudly in our private collection..

At first glance, it looks like a standard 7-inch vinyl single, but the physical reality is far more fascinating: it is an authentic, rare 7-inch (or 8-inch) 78 RPM shellac record. Made from a natural animal resin used long before the invention of vinyl, this heavy, ultra-fragile historical support behaves like ceramic—if dropped, it would shatter into a thousand pieces.

Owing to its compact size, this vintage artifact belongs to a specific niche of audio history:

The Pocket 78s: It could be a 1920s-1930s budget “department store” record (like the British Victory or Broadcast labels) featuring micro-grooves designed to fit an entire song on a smaller surface.
Toy Gramophones: It might originate from a 1940s-1950s children’s fairy tale or song, originally meant to be spun on a toy player.

We have chosen to keep it safely preserved inside its minimalist black frame without pulling it out to check the label. The exact title of the tune etched into its deep grooves remains a secret.

On this historical, fragile canvas, P*NM stenciled one of his signature motifs: a high-contrast honeybee equipped with a post-apocalyptic gas mask, hovering over a textured fusion of green and purple spray paint. It is a stunning conceptual paradox: a modern symbol of industrial survival stamped onto a delicate piece of 20th-century history.

Artist: P*NM (Instagram: @pnmstreetart / Artmajeur: p-nm)
Artifacts: Le Monde Rat (Paste-up, Grenoble 2024) / Gas Mask Bee (Mixed media on Vintage 7″ 78 RPM Shellac Record)
Section: The Wall — The Collection