After a jam packed opening reception in May, 5 Art Gallery will continue to celebrate the French street art movement with a Bastille Day Kickoff Reception on Thursday, July 12, from 6pm - 9pm. Founded by Parisian entrepreneurs and art collectors Jean-Jacques & Julie Darmon , 5 Art Gallery has become the premiere destination in LA to discover artists from the French urban and street art scene. Ahead of the next event, the gallery has acquired new work by French street and pop artists Barnabe and Jisbar , best known for their cartoon and pop-culture influenced work. They will be exhibiting alongside other French street artists such as BABS , Christophe Catelain , L'Atlas , Pro176 , Tanc , MonkeyBird , DON , Xare and Zenoy , as well as pop artists like Richard Orlinski, Lisa Sartor and Vincent Faudemer .

“Bastille Day is one of the most important holidays in French culture, and we are excited to begin this year’s celebration in LA with a spotlight on the growing French street art movement,” says 5 Art Gallery co-founder Julie Darmon. “The French government has always been very strict in what they deem to be vandalism of property, but street art has been so lovingly embraced by the people of France that it is becoming a major part of our culture.”

In the heart of the trendy Melrose design district, and catty-corner to the iconic, pink-hued Paul Smith shop, 5 Art Gallery has been several years in the making, born from Jean-Jacques and Julie Darmon’s growing passion for both art and Los Angeles, which has had French street art strangely absent from its scene. “Street art has come to be recognized as a full fledged artistic movement,” says Julie. “Today, art on walls has been shown on canvas and sold on auction and in galleries. Blek Le Rat has had his artwork washed away by the city in the past, but now it's protected by law, and he is regularly commissioned to produce more murals. Street artists are not seen as vandals anymore, but as part of our society's freedom of speech. Street art is definitely a huge part of art history because it's part of our time.”