Cren

Michel «Cren» Pietsch, born in April 1970, grew up as the son of a Frenchwoman and a
German in Lehrte near Hannover. In his childhood and youth, he visited the French part of
his family with his parents on a regular basis. So not only his family’s roots are in the French
Departement du Nord and in Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, but also his artistic
beginnings.
On the train rides to France in the early eighties Cren encountered the hip-hop culture for
the first time when he discovered the emerging graffitis along the railway track. Fascinated
by the graffitis, he began to design his own letterings shortly afterwards – in the beginning
with pens on paper. In 1989, he used a spray can for the first time. Since then, he has
painted walls with his letterings in more than 16 countries and on three continents. In over
36-year career, he incorporates the impressions from his various journeys and from the
exchange with numerous artists in the development of his calligraphic compositions on
various image carriers.