M. Chat

Thoma VUILLE, aka Mr CHAT (pronounced Monsieur Chat by default), is a Franco-Swiss urban artist. Born in Boudry, Switzerland, on 16 July 1977, he is famous for his graphic series Mr CHAT, depicting a yellow feline with a broad smile. He uses this pseudonym to "find out if a drawing can live without its creator". Thoma's anonymity came to an end when he was caught red-handed by the police while painting a wall in Orléans.

Thoma VUILLE started painting with acrylics at the age of 15 as a tribute to his grandfather, a house painter. After gaining a professional degree in civil engineering, the street artist studied for 7 years at the Orléans School of Fine Arts. It was during his studies that he came up with M.Chat. His aim was philosophical: "to put some humanity and love into the city: Orléans was a rather grey city and we needed a bit of sunshine". He went on to import his cat all over France, including Tours, Nantes, Saint-Etienne and Paris. His meteoric rise to fame quickly spread around the world, with paintings in New York, Vienna, London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Geneva...