I first came across Miss Van when I was a student living in Barcelona 4 years ago. It really was love at first sight. I was instantly magnetized by her sultry and overtly feminine and feline characters known as ‘poupées’ which is French for dolls. From that moment on I was well and truly hooked. I would find her creations in the most random places as I explored the city by foot; on dirty old wooden doors or alongside other tags which made her paintings even more appealing.

Miss Van is a Toulouse native residing in Barcelona. She first began painting on the streets of Toulouse during the mid 90’s at the age of 18; using basic painting tools such as bright latex paint unlike most of her contemporaries who preferred to work with spray paint. She is a breath of fresh air in a traditionally masculine movement of urban art where artists like Banksy appear to dominate the movement. Her sensual dolls are infectious. They are sexy yet enthralling. Their sexy aura is made complex by their increasingly ambiguous facial expressions. Their faces are melancholic yet playful and unthreatening. They are an extension of the artist herself. Her more recent commissioned work in galleries has meant that she has been able to experiment with further media such as pencil thus allowing her to develop her dolls furthermore.

She showcased her first collection ‘Love Stain’ in London last month at the StolenSpace gallery in East London. Her infamous poupées have very much evolved over the years, something which was very evident when I went to see the exhibition. The overall feeling of the exhibition was less childlike and cute; her signature playfulness had been replaced by dark tones which I personally found a little unsettling. Affirming her style, the painter explores other ways of creating her masterpieces, this time using mixed media which I felt didn’t work well. Personally this was too extreme for me. ‘Lovestain’ was inspired by the circus and the paintings depict clown like dolls which was controversial in itself as the circus for most is a bone of contention.

The second half of the exhibition featured dolls ending their lives by slicing out their hearts, consequently drowning themselves in their own pool of blood. I prefer Miss Van, the street artist over Miss Van, the artist who sells her work in galleries. It was a real experience to see her commissioned work so big on canvas but I prefer the street dolls found down the dirty old alleyways of Barcelona which are on the whole a little more spontaneous, less dramatic and a lot more charming. The first four images show Miss Van paintings all found in Barcelona whilst living there, the final three are taken from her exhibition at StolenSpace.

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