Known worldwide as Mantra, pseudonym of Youri Cansell, is a French street artist with an immense passion for nature.
Since he was a child, in fact, the French artist loved to stay outside and admire all the little creatures that wandered in his garden, collecting them in display cases.

Those same display cases that he collected as a child have now become giant-scale murals on the walls of buildings around the world.
Reptiles, insects and butterflies are in fact his favorite subjects, those that have made him famous since his debut in 2008.

And in these days, in the cities of Little Rock and Bentonville, Arkansas, his display cases have made their way to the end of the line, this time, however, symbolically shattered, as a tribute to nine species of butterflies present in the southern state of the United States.

The work is entitled “The Nine”, an artwork that carries with it a very important meaning and warning, that of preserving the balance of natural ecosystems, for the sole sake of safeguarding the planet, an urgent problem with which we must deal.

But the most careful eyes will have noticed Mantra also loves to deceive us, the artist works a lot with the trompe l’oeil technique to create images that dialogue with the urban context.

So very often his butterflies almost seem to come out of the case, ready to fly away. Like when he painted, freehand as always, one of his beautiful butterflies in a disused factory in Rombas, France.

But as we said his passion from an early age did not stop with butterflies only but include all insects, spiders and any animal orbiting around him.

There are many animals depicted, also related to causes that the artist tries to bring forward with the sole force of his colors and his art.
One of his latest works is “Namunyak“, a huge elephant-drawn freehand on a rock in Kenya.

The artwork made in a wildlife refuge rails against those poachers who hunt and kill elephants every year in search of their precious tusks.

“This rock was once used by elephant poachers as a place to hide but now, it is a place for community members, elders and visitors to gather. My concept was to create something from nature that was meaningful and ephemeral. The painting will not last forever, but the memory of what has been created in this community will always live on.” Mantra said.

We can undoubtedly say that Mantra’s three-dimensional street art is a feast for the eyes, a unique artist ready to transform facades around the world with his beloved animals.

Read also: Alex Senna’s street art, made of people and shadows

Here is a selection of the works that impressed us the most, but to discover them all just visit his Instagram account.