{{short description|French painter}}
{{Infobox artist | name = Miss Van | image = Miss Van (aikijuanma).jpg | caption = Artwork by Miss Van on a wall of La Boqueria in Ciutat Vella, Barcelona | birth_name = Vanessa Alice | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1973}} | birth_place = Toulouse, France | known_for = ''Poupées'' | notable_works = | style = Feminine | movement = Street art | signature = | signature_type = Tag | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|https://missvan.com/}} }}
'''Miss Van''' (born 1973 in Toulouse, France), also known as '''Vanessa Alice''', is a graffiti and street artist.<ref name="swindle">{{Cite web |url=http://swindlemagazine.com/issue09/miss-van/ |title=SWINDLE Magazine Interview with Miss Van |access-date=2007-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518195712/http://swindlemagazine.com/issue09/miss-van/ |archive-date=2011-05-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/miss-van-first-museum-show-malaga-525146|title=Miss Van's First Museum Show Opens in Malaga – artnet News|date=2016-06-24|work=artnet News|access-date=2017-03-20|language=en-US}}</ref> Miss Van started painting on the street of Toulouse alongside Mademoiselle Kat at the age of 18. Today, she is now internationally known as a street and fine artist. Primarily, her work is marked by the use of unique characters, called ''poupées,'' or dolls.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=From graffiti to the street art movement : negotiating art worlds, urban spaces, and visual culture, c. 1970–2008.|last=Waclawek|first=Anna|publisher=Concordia University, Phd Thesis|year=2008|url=http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/976281/|type=phd }}</ref> Miss Van's work has appeared on streets internationally, although she also exhibits canvases in galleries across France, Europe and the United States.<ref name="swindle" /> Today, her work is characterized by both street art and fine art, blurring the lines between both worlds.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=88302#.WM9Pim8rKpp|title=Miss Van's first show at a museum on view at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo of Málaga|last=Villarreal|first=Ignacio|website=artdaily.com|language=en|access-date=2017-03-20}}</ref>
Miss Van currently resides in Barcelona and has written and published several books with the publishing house Drago and coordinated several art shows across Europe.<ref>[http://www.couturecandy.com/fornarina/the-dolls-of-miss-van/article.html The Dolls of Miss Van. Fornarina Fashion News @ CourtureCandy.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216144236/http://www.couturecandy.com/fornarina/the-dolls-of-miss-van/article.html |date=2007-12-16 }}</ref> She remains one of the most famous female street and graffiti artists in the world, recognized as one of the top figures in early 21st-century street art canon.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Glaser|first=Katja|year=2015|title=The 'Place to Be'for Street Art Nowadays is no Longer the Street, its the Internet|url=http://www.urbancreativity.org/uploads/1/0/7/2/10727553/journal2015_v1_n2_web_final.pdf#page=6|journal=Street Art and Urban Creativity Scientific Journal|volume=1 |issue=2}}</ref>
== Artwork == thumb|Miss Van with El Bocho's Little Lucy, Berlin 2009 In her artwork, Miss Van typically depicts sloe-eyed women, covering a varied array of female forms and expressing many different emotions.<ref>[http://l322.1.free.fr/gallery.php?p=1&name=MissVan Miss Van gallery]</ref> Common themes in her work include eroticism, sexuality, desire and innocence which are represented by animal masks, pastel colors, and revealing clothing.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Miss Van's work illustrates a cartoonish, dream-like world of female sexuality.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://cujah.org/past-volumes/volume-viii/essay-1-volume-8/|title=Miss Van and the Evolution of the Feminine from Brick onto Canvas|last=Premont|first=Chantal|date=2013-04-28|work=CUJAH|access-date=2017-04-04|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405165859/http://cujah.org/past-volumes/volume-viii/essay-1-volume-8/|archive-date=2017-04-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> Over time the stylization of the women has changed, reflecting Miss Van's artistic and personal evolution as she has grown and matured.<ref name=":2" /> This change is paralleled in Miss Van's increased preference for the gallery over the street.<ref name=":2" /> In the gallery, Miss Van embraces enclosed and intimate gallery space as part of the artistic experience .<ref name=":2" />
Between 2008 and 2016, Miss Van exhibited artwork in private galleries in Shanghai, London, Rome, Berlin, Paris and Vienna.<ref name=":1" /> In North America, she has held shows in Detroit,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.metrotimes.com/the-scene/archives/2015/09/28/murals-in-the-market-artists-address-shepard-fairey-detroit-and-more-in-inaugural-fest|title=Murals in the Market artists address Shepard Fairey, Detroit, and more in inaugural fest|last=DeVito|first=Lee|work=Detroit Metro Times|access-date=2017-03-20|language=en}}</ref> Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Montreal, Chicago and New York.<ref name=":1" /> Notable shows include, ''Still a Little Magic'' at Upper Playground, San Francisco in 2008; ''Cachetes Colorados'' at Upper Playground, Mexico City in 2010; and ''A Moment in Time'' at Saatchi Gallery, London in 2016.<ref name=":1" /> The same year, Miss Van also showed at the Atmossphere Biennale in Moscow, where she exhibited a woven wool rug based on an original painting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-rojo-steven-harrington/moscow-street-art-biennal_b_12187586.html|title=A Moscow Street Art Biennale: Artmossphere 2016|last=Harrington|first=Jaime Rojo & Steven|date=2016-09-28|website=Huffington Post|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-04}}</ref>
== Critical reception == Thematically, her work has provoked a negative reaction from some feminists due to the portrayal of women in her graffiti.<ref name="swindle" /> Although she receives this backlash, her reasoning for her painting is more personal. "Painting on walls was a way to show that I was boycotting the conventional art world".<ref>MissVan.com</ref> Despite negative critique of her work, some critics perceive her portrayal of sexuality and feminity as a powerful rejection of male supremacy and male-dominated art.<ref name=":2" /> Her work is also appreciated for centering women and increasing the representation of women in street art.<ref name=":2" /> Furthermore, the depiction of a full-figured female form in Miss Van's work is representative of body positive politics.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/72885-weekly-style-muse-miss-vans-painted-ladies-body-pos-pinups-with-attitude|title=Weekly Style Muse: Miss Van's Painted Ladies, Body Pos Pinups With Attitude|last=Porteous|first=Freyia Lilian|access-date=2017-04-04}}</ref> Miss Van is regarded as one of the most famous female graffiti and street artists in the world, a genre that is generally considered as having few female artists.<ref name=":3" />
In 2016, Miss Van held her first institutional art show at Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in Spain, titled "For The Wind in My Hair."<ref name=":0" /> The show featured 39 original paintings on canvas. Artnet News calls the show as "interesting discourse between the worlds of fine art and street art."<ref name=":0" /> Miss Van also displays how meaning changes between these two artistic sites, the street and the gallery.<ref name=":2" />
== Publications == === Books === * ''Wild at Heart'' (2012) Drago * ''Twinkles'' (2011) Drago
=== Books with contributions by Miss Van === * ''Pop Surrealism: What a Wonderfool World'' (2010) Drago *Dorothy Circus Gallery ''Trilogy: Walk on the Wild Side'' (2013) Drago
== Exhibits == {{external links|date=October 2021}} 2014 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/stolenspace-gallery-miss-van-glamorous-darkness Miss Van: Glamorous Darkness], StolenSpace Gallery, London – Solo Show
2014 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/stolenspace-gallery-spectrum-winter-group-show Spectrum: Winter Group Show], StolenSpace Gallery, London – Group Show
2014 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/jonathan-levine-gallery-art-truancy-celebrating-20-years-of-juxtapoz-magazine Art Truancy: Celebrating 20 Years of Juxtapoz Magazine], Johnathan LeVine Projects – Group Show
2014 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/stolenspace-gallery-stolenspace-gallery-at-scope-miami-beach-2014 StolenSpace Gallery at SCOPE Miami Beach 2014] – Fair
2015 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/stolenspace-gallery-the-reasons-for-the-seasons The Reasons for the Seasons], StolenSpace Gallery, London – Group Show
2015 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/isabel-croxatto-galeria-festin-de-arte-at-isabel-croxatto-galeria FESTIN DE ARTE at Isabelle Croxatto Galleria], Isabelle Croxatto Galleria, Santiago – Group Show
2015 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/stolenspace-gallery-freedom-a-group-show 'Freedom' a Group Show], StolenSpace Gallery, Berlin – Group Show
2015 – [https://web.archive.org/web/20170420144550/https://www.artsy.net/show/fifty24mx-fifty24mx-at-la-art-show-2015 FIFTY24MX at LA Art Show 2015] – Fair
2016 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/isabel-croxatto-galeria-ch-aco16 Ch. ACO'16], Isabel Croxatto Galería, Santiago – Group Show
2016 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/isabel-croxatto-galeria-isabel-croxatto-galeria-at-contemporary-istanbul-2016 Isabel Croxatto Galeria at Contemporary Istanbul 2016], Şişli – Fair
2017 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/victor-lope-arte-contemporaneo-flor-de-piel Flor de Piel], Victor Lope Arte Contemporaneo, Barcelona – Solo Show
2017 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/jonathan-levine-projects-welcome-to-new-jersey Welcome to New Jersey], Jonathan LeVine Projects, Jersey City – Group Show
2017 – [https://www.artsy.net/show/isabel-croxatto-galeria-isabel-croxatto-galeria-at-art-central-2017 Isabel Croxatto Galeria at Art Central 2017] – Fair
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons}} *[http://www.missvan.com/ Official Miss Van site] *[https://www.instagram.com/vanessa_alice/ Miss Van – Instagram] *[https://beinart.org/collections/miss-van Miss Van at Beinart Gallery] *[http://www.iguapop.net/artists/missvan.html Iguapop Gallery] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100407005347/http://www.juxtapoz.com/Features/interview-with-miss-van-part-i Juxtapoz Magazine Interview] *[http://www.lamonodigital.net/blog/?p=38112 Lamono Interview] *[http://www.adrisworld.com/blog/2013/03/world-of-art-miss-van.html/ Miss Van – Adri's World]
{{Street_Art}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miss Van}} Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:French graffiti artists Category:20th-century French painters Category:21st-century French painters Category:Women graffiti artists Category:French muralists Category:French women muralists Category:Pseudonymous painters Category:20th-century French women painters Category:21st-century French women painters