TUCO (Fr)

Not necessarily the most obvious to me, but i’ll try to introduce my work. I have two favorite tools : my camera and my cutter.

I like particulary decorating streets and interfering in public areas with stencils ; i really enjoy to involve local people in my projects. I also paint in my studio on different materials, especially wood, books, maps… i try to explore again and again ! My creations get their souces in photography. I always work with my own pictures and I often add something on them. Each of my drawings has a special story in my mind : a guy wandering at the the market on sunday morning, a musician sitting at a street corner, a grandmother walking quietly… I like particulary mixing humans and animals. I believe these hybrid creatures i name «manimals» may question or just wonder people. What do manimals within these urban structures ? What do they actually think about our modern cities ? Maybe, they could represent a wild side in opposition to the «concrete world» around them ? Have they got a different look because of their physical originality ? What do they imagine when watching us and what do we think when seeing them ? I suppose manimals have an universal mythological side : they represent both the good and evil, they are for everyone, children and adults, they could be seductive and disturbing … The most important thing for me is : they have to surprise ! Concerning my recent experience, i participated last year to an european project called «Recover the streets». The aim was to use paintings, installations, and various stuff to get back to abandonned or unused places/streets. With this great project, i have painted for CityLeaks festival in Cologne (DE) and for Bien Urbain festival in Besançon (FR). According to the idea, i have met local people to speak and exchange with them about the stencils and the wall i wanted to create for them. In Cologne, i also organized a workshop for people who wants to learn a little about stencils. It was the occasion to paint together and to learn about the others. Following to my stage in Cologne, i have the pleasure to expose a few artworks in Cologne at Die Kunstagentin for a group show (http://www.diekunstagentin.de) for the release of a street art book in this city. I also took part in 2013 to another project called «1connu» in Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou (Festival Rendez Vous Chez Nous) where the concept was to take pictures of local people in a neighborhood, and after make and paint stencils of them in the same area, three days later…in fact to «put the lights» on «unknown people». Humanly, it was so rewarding to meet people, talk and laugh with them, take pictures, produce stencils on site and paint on Africa’s walls… And probably the most important, i paint and paste as much as i can in the streets…