"Passions Tristes" exhibition marks a significant maturity in his work on canvas, affirming his search for a balance between the constant influence of graffiti vandalism, which built him up artistically, and the multiple means of expression he has since developed.
Speerstra Gallery Paris welcomes artist Fuzi for the first time. The title of this solo exhibition is "Passions Tristes" (Sad Passions). The artist chooses to tame his destructive energies. These powerful, often unconscious forces are now channeled and transformed into an innovative celebration, a sublimation.
Stanislas "FUZI" Baritaux, a French artist born in 1975, is a multidisciplinary artist: painter, illustrator, photographer, tattooist, author, but above all a graffiti artist recognized by his peers. He started out in the Paris suburbs in the late 80s, and made a name for himself in the mid-90s with his own "ignorant style" graffiti. In 2007, he transposed his vision of art to the world of tattooing, a performance that brought him international renown. Today, he divides his time between Paris, his hometown, and Los Angeles, his main place of residence.
It was the influence of his many trips to Mexico City that was the genesis of the works presented for this exhibition; a wide range of facets of Mexican culture thus infiltrated his creativity. He was fascinated by the unchecked urbanization that has imposed itself on nature. It is this powerful duality that echoes his own inner feelings. Over ten years ago, Fuzi left France to question the truths he had built up. These explorations led him to a real awakening. His perceptions of the world and the battles he had waged against "the others" were nothing but pipe dreams.
He is now convinced not only of the artistic possibilities and infinite influence of nature on his creations, but also of the dark, brutal side of the way we wear down our environment to bend it to our needs, our neuroses and our demands.
Fuzi translates his new approach into his works, using industrial paint in flat strokes on the raw material. He uses gradient effects that refer to the multiple layers of paint, comparable to the buff of graffiti-painted walls. Fuzi likes to adapt to constraints to succeed in making any situation his own, by questioning and surpassing himself. His choice of color, once dictated by his graffiti practice, and influenced by numerous references to comics, letter painters' logos, video games and VHS covers, has toned down considerably in this exhibition, using more sober tones that play notably on the idea of incessant passage and the wear and tear of time.
Don't talk to the artist about "doodling". For him, this "Fuzi World" is populated by characters who each tell a story, an experience, precise references. The composition invites viewers to lose themselves in this crowd, to latch on to a random detail and project themselves into the work's narrative. In this new series, Fuzi has taken care to add more figurative elements to enrich the depth of his formats.
"Passions Tristes" exhibition marks a significant maturity in his work on canvas, affirming his search for a balance between the constant influence of graffiti vandalism, which built him up artistically, and the multiple means of expression he has since developed.
This evolution also embodies an open-mindedness that goes far beyond artistic practice, profoundly impacting his own redefinition as a human being, and operating a veritable catharsis that now provides him with total freedom and boundless creative energy.
© Speerstra Gallery
