KONGO Mr Colorful - Galerie Matignon

Transcription

GALERIE MATIGNON
JANY JANSEM
presents
Photo : © Jany Jansem - Galerie Matignon
KONGO Mr Colorful
Kongo. Couleurs Religion 2015.Technique mixte sur toile, 100 x 200 cm.
Pre-opening
Special evening for collectors
Tuesday June 2 from 18 to 21 h - the artist will be present
Opening During the evening NOCTURNE RIVE DROITE 2015
Wednesday June 3 from 17 to 23 h - the artist will be signing the catalogue
Special evening in the Matignon / Faubourg Saint-Honoré district : 50 art and antiques galleries invite
the public to an artistic voyage through exhibitions, openings and book signings on the theme «A
voyage through Art History».
Exhibition
June 3 to July 25, 2015
From June 3 to July 25, 2015 Cyril Phan aka Kongo is back at Galerie Matignon for his second solo
exhibition, entitled « Mr Colorful ».
Galerie Matignon continues a dialogue it began with the artist in 2014, reflecting their complicity and
shared belief in stating the obvious: that graffiti art is a major, significant and noble art of our times.
JANY JANSEM / GALERIE MATIGNON - 18 AVENUE MATIGNON 75008 PARIS
Tel : +33 (0)1 42 66 60 32 - www.galeriematignon.com - expos@galeriematignon.com
Monday to Saturday : 10h-13h and 14h30-19h - Parking : Rond-Point des Champs Elysées
GALERIE MATIGNON
JANY JANSEM
presents
KONGO Mr Colorful
Time…waits for no man
Le hasard n’existe pas,
2015.
Mixed media.
150 x 150 cm.
Photo : © Kongo’s World Studio.
« Being an artist is a fight against time. The time for
art is at least 48 hours a day! » Kongo’s statement
sounds like a vow. A prolific artist at the crossroads of
artistic influences in terms of both time and place, his
joy in living and creating bursts from the frame and his
preferred medium of expression: graffiti. Kongo is an
unfettered artist. « I claim never to be where you expect
me. » Top names in French luxury and the international
press love Kongo. In 2015, his popularity has spread
further afield. We find him in the Indonesian edition of
Elle magazine, or collaborating with Daum and Hermès,
giving a live performance for the latter in the windows
of Jakarta’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.
So who is Kongo, really? A loose cannon that crashed
onto the street some thirty years ago and shot into the
limelight, he has given full rein to his artistic vision on
walls and hoardings from Brazil to Hong Kong, and from
New York to Guadeloupe. Kongo constantly develops his
technique, questioning an art of the transitory doomed
to disappearance and the destruction of its forms, which
has finally ended up in the studio as what he calls « an
art of dreams, an art of the stars. That’s what tagging
is: a universal language that speaks to everyone on the
planet. »
Hara-Kiri 2015.
Mixed media.
200 x 200 cm.
Mr Colorful, 2015.
Mixed media.
100 x 100 cm.
Bringing the worlds of art together
« I am currently undergoing an intense period of
evolution in my work and in myself », says Kongo. «Travel,
meeting people – everything inspires me and feeds
my work in a thousand different and converging ways.
Meeting people is the thing. I am really lucky to have met
Jany and Danielle Jansem from the Galerie Matignon
and be able to exhibit with them today. It’s one more
step towards European and international recognition
of street art in galleries. » Increasingly approached by
dealers and collectors, Kongo admits that he works
more than ever in his studio: a place that recharges his
batteries and nourishes his imagination.
As he says, « working in a studio, for an artist who
comes from the street, means starting from scratch.The
technique and research involve the same demands as
in my work with spray paint; it’s just the tools that are
GALERIE MATIGNON
JANY JANSEM
presents
KONGO Mr Colorful
different. I have learned to use a paintbrush, to work
with acrylic and oils, and to use the lost wax technique
in casting. By broadening my creative means, my inner
world also opens out a little more each day. I am deeply
happy and infinitely grateful that I can go on exploring
in this way! »
Mr Colorful : Claude Monet’s grandson,
Warhol’s nephew and Basquiat’s little
brother!
Time Dilation, 2015. Mixed media, 100 x 200 cm.
169, 2014. Mixed media. 80 x 120 cm.
Relativité restreinte, 2015. Mixed media,140 x 170 cm.
For his second solo exhibition at the Galerie Matignon,
the artist has decided to show his most recent paintings.
A highly significant decision, which represents his way
of seeing art and life, and features vibrantly colorful
works bursting with energy and infectious, universal
optimism. The world of art is now welcoming Kongo
with open arms. « I have tagged in the four corners of
the globe, knocked about in the streets of Brazzaville
and Rio de Janeiro, moved from a childhood spent in
Saigon to the world of international luxury and I’m now
in the prestigious Avenue Matignon, in the heart of Paris’
Golden Triangle. You can travel across the world in 20
hours – and I am continuing to race against time…»
He muses, « will I have enough time to produce all the
works I have in mind? I am increasingly in a state of
being, less in a state of doing. » Growing as a man and
as an artist, and making his art grow with him, that’s
the challenge ahead of him. As a result, Kongo’s art is
inseparable from his philosophy of life. « As an artist, I
feel I’m a channel, highly connected to certain creative
forces that pass through my hands when I create. I
believe in the power of stones, the power of nature,
in visualising positive thought. I also believe that art
can help us to communicate with other worlds…» He
laughs. « I often say that Claude Monet is my grandfather,
Andy Warhol my uncle and Jean-Michel Basquiat my
elder brother! »
Further evidence that the graffiti art draws on Pop Art
and Impressionist influences alike… « Live your dreams,
live in the present moment! That’s all that my art speaks
about…»
Elisa Amaru
KONGO
GALERIE MATIGNON
Cyril Phan was born in Toulouse in 1969, to a French mother and a Vietnamese
father. He spent his childhood in Vietnam and in the South of France. At the age of
14 years old, his mother took him to live in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo where he
stayed for four years. Hence his artist name, Kongo. He returned to France at the age
of 18, and established himself in the Parisian suburbs where he still lives and works.
He now shares his time living and working in Paris, Hong Kong and Guadeloupe.
These multicultural influences have forged his identity and artistic style. Kongo is a
man at ease on all continents and an artist involved in a search for identity and thirst
of recognition that made him choose graffiti art as a means of expression.
EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSITIONS (selection)
2015
2014
2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2003 2002 2000 Kongo Mr Colorful [solo-show], Galerie Matignon, Paris, France.
La joie de vivre, [solo-show], D Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia. FenX, Noe2, Kongo, Galerie Stammegna, Marseille, France.
Kongo, Galerie Matignon, Paris, France.
A Stroll in Paris with Kongo [solo-show], D Gallerie, Jakarta, Indonesia.
J’adore l’art de rue [solo-show], Ming art gallery, Taipei, Taiwan.
2a Bienal Internacional Graffiti Fine Art, MuBE, São Paulo, Brésil.
From Paris with Love [solo-show], Galerie 28th February Singapour.
One Love [avec / with Ceet], Central Plaza, Hong Kong.
Ne pas effacer, Galerie Wallworks, Paris, France.
Do Not Erase, G-Dot Art Space, Beijing, China.
Bon baiser de Paris [solo-show], Déjà vu gallery, Shanghai, China.
Off The Wall Paris, Galerie Wallworks, Paris.
Off The Wall, Artspace @ Helutrans, Singapour.
L’art du graffiti - 40 ans de pressionnisme, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.
Graff in the City, Opera Gallery, Paris, France.
De la rue jaillit la couleur [solo-show], Galerie Wallworks, Paris.
Infamous, The Space Gallery, Hong Kong.
Pick it Up, Dragon I, Hong Kong.
Macrew, Galerie Quality Street, Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
The Oven’s Hot, The Bakery Gallery, New York, USA.
Kosmo Art Tour, Bruxelles, Belgique.
Propaganda Revolution, M1nt, Hong Kong.
Wall Street Arts, Salihara Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Street Heart, Tokyo Art Club, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
Le TAG au Grand Palais - Collection Gallizia, Grand Palais, Paris.
MAC Hexagonade, Pol’N, Nantes, France.
Thomas Lélu_Works with Kongo, Galerie Dominique Fiat, Paris.
FIAC, Cour Carrée du Louvre, Galerie Dominique Fiat, Paris.
Infusion, Bochum, Germany.
MAC Sous le granit de 68, Kosmopolite, Bagnolet, Hip Hop Dôme, Bondy, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.
Graffiti & Consumption, Biennale bi-city Hong Kong - Shenzhen, China.
Moleskine Citynotebook exhibition, Hong Kong.
Moleskine Citynotebook exhibition, Tokyo, Japan.
MAC crew, Groeninge Museum, Bruges, Belgique.
Ombre et lumière, Taxie Gallery, Paris.
Calli-graff, La Laiterie, Centre Européen Jeune Création, Strasbourg.
BIOGRAPHY AND EXHIBITIONS
KONGO
GALERIE MATIGNON
Photo : © Claude Gaspari
EVENTS, PERFORMANCES, STREET PROMO
EVENTS, PERFORMANCES, STREET PROMO (selection)
2015 Wall painting performances (12 and 13 x 3 meters) and showcase performance for Hermès, Jakarta, Indonesia.
2014 Wall painting performance (37 meters wide) sponsored by AXA and Galerie Matignon, Paris, France.
2012 Showcase painting performance for Hermès, Barcelona, Spain; painting performance on canvas (20 x 4 meters) for
the opening of Hermès, Berlin, Germany; painting performance for the opening of Hermès, Hong Kong.
2011 Design of 3 showcases and wall painting performance(30 x 5 meters) for Hermès, Singapour.
Participation to the exhibition Paris Première s’expose, 25 years of tv channel Paris Première, Grand Palais, Paris.
+Graff, design of an exclusive series of scarfs for the Fall/Winter 2011-2012 collection of Hermès.
Hainan rendez-vous 2011, design of a trophy for the golf tournament organized by Airbus, Hainan, China.
2010 Akrylonumerik performance for Nissan, Paris.
2009 Performance for the 30 years anniversary of the group Kassav’ in Guadeloupe.
Né dans la rue - Graffiti, performance at the Fondation Cartier, Paris.
2008 H Inspiré, installation : first collaboration with Hermès, Hong Kong.
2007 Eating Frogs Tour, co-organization [with artist Ceet] of a tour of graffiti artists and DJ’s in China.
Wall painting for the 100 years anniversary of the French Institute, Athens, Greece.
2006 Eating Dogz Tour, graffiti artists and DJ’s tour in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Canton, China.
2005 Painting performances for the concerts of Saian Supa Crew.
2004 Graffiti painting for the video clip De quoi sera fait demain ? by Daddy Mory.
2003 Gladiatorz, wall painting with the Tats Cru in the Bronx Hall of Fame, New York, USA.
Participation in the happening for the Meeting of Style Festival, Queens, New York, USA.
Participation in Paris against War, canvas exhibited during the whole conflict in Irak, City Hall, Paris, France.
2002 National launch of the TRUMAC video on the meeting of the Truskool,Toulouse, and MAC, Paris crews.
Street promo for the solo album by Don Choa from Fonky Family.
Illustration of the cover album and single Ma voix résonne by Daddy Mory.
2001 Participation in the event Galerie à ciel ouvert in Sadi Carnot street in Bagnolet, France.
Customization of Dr. Martens Chatelet store, Paris, France.
2000 Wall painting performance on the Great Wheel on the Champs Elysees, January 1st, 2000, City of Paris, France.
Canvas painting performances with calligrapher Hassan Massoudy, Parc de La Villette, Paris, France.
Wall painting (5 x 10 meters) for GOA France Telecom, Mission 2000, Avignon, France.
Painting performance at the Marsatac Festival, Marseille, France.
Wall painting performance (250 m2) with the Tats Cru, Hunt Point Cultural Center, Bronx, New York, USA.
1999 Wall painting performance for rapper Freeman’s tour.
Wall painting performance for the commemoration of the abolition of slavery, Guadeloupe.
1998 Performances and paintings on advertising display panels for Caterpilar, Paris, France.
1996 Wall painting performance for the entry into Formula 1 by Renault, Renault F1, Paris, France.
Prose Combat, national tour in collaboration with FNAC and Droit de cité, France.
1995 Wall painting performances with Bronx graphers, New York, USA.
Wall painting performances with New Jersey graphers, Connecticut, USA.
1994 Wall painting performance on the theme of slavery, Basse-Terre jail, Guadeloupe.
1993 Creation of 8 paintings on canvas (2 x 2 m) for Paco Rabanne, exhibited at Galeries Lafayette store, Paris, France.
1992 Creation of a painting on canvas (3 x 12 m), first prize of the City Contest, Niort, France.
1991 Creation of two paintings on canvas on the Esplanade of Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.

KONGO Mr Colorful - Galerie Matignon

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