“This wall was an obstacle to peace, love, and wisdom. To do something about it, to make the wall go away without tearing it down, you needed to give it a lot of love and wisdom so that it could stay.”
Hervé Morlay alias VR was born in 1962 and grew up in Paris (France). A painter, photographer, and video artist, in 1990 he painted the street-art work “Paix, Amour-Sagesse” (“Peace, Love-Wisdom”) together with German artist Andreas Paulun on the Berlin Wall. The version of 2009 is considerably different from the original.
Hervé Morlay (VR) and Andreas Paulun in the interview
The work “Paix, Amour-Sagesse” (“Peace, Love-Freedom”) by Morlay and Paulun is a cheerful street-art extravaganza, showing various motifs, including the sprayed portraits of several well-known personalities. Morlay left space for other artists in between them. In 2009, he added many words in French. With this painting, he aimed to change the negative aura of the Wall into a positive one. It can be regarded as a cheerful tribute to art and human relationships. In terms of style and content, it harmonises with the adjacent painting by Kim Prisu.
Morlay now works primarily with trees, which he forms into living sculptures. His art is displayed mainly in the internet. Shortly after the fall of the Wall, he met Andreas Paulun, a German artist and member of the Cologne-based artist group Tabot Velud, known for producing artworks using pochoir technique (stencil graffiti).