Seth Globepainter

Our long-standing obsession with the poetic universe of Seth Globepainter began back in 2013 on the streets of Paris. It was there that we first encountered one of his iconic street interventions: a mural painted across a split metal gate depicting two children sitting face-to-face, their heads seamlessly merging where the doors met. That fleeting, brilliant street interaction sparked a decade-long journey of tracking his work across global social channels and hunting for his signature characters in every city we visited.

Artist Focus: Seth Globepainter (Julien Malland)

Official Website: seth.fr
Instagram Archive: @seth_globepainter

Born in Paris in 1972, Julien Malland graduated from the prestigious École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs and began painting on Parisian walls in the mid-1990s.

In 2003, he embarked on a continuous global journey to collaborate with local artists from vast, diverse cultural backgrounds. This international immersion shaped his unmistakable signature style:

Anonymous Innocence: He paints children with hidden, turned, or completely obscured faces, placed directly into fragile social, political, or geographical contexts.
The Narrative Media: His global artistic exchanges led to the publication of his book Globe Painter (2007) and the production of the acclaimed Canal+ documentary series Les Nouveaux Explorateurs, turning neglected public surfaces into bright windows of innocent introspection.

From Street Gates to Sculptural Towers

Our journey following his career came full circle with a visit to his spectacular solo museum exhibition in Munich: Seth’s Spiel(t)räume (which features its own dedicated chronicle in our archive).

While our initial love grew from his flat, two-dimensional street paintings—like the face-to-face gate mural in Paris—the exhibition highlighted his incredible evolution into spatial installations and physical depth. A prime example is his striking child-and-luggage sculpture showcased here. In this physical piece, a child sits quietly atop a towering, vertical stack of vintage, worn-out suitcases, his head completely enveloped and replaced by the luggage itself. It acts as a powerful, melancholic monument to travel, displacement, and the heavy memories carried through childhood.