KOKIAN
Born in 1971, Kokian is a French artist and one of the heirs of the “Bad Painting” neoexpressionist movement typified by Basquiat and many other artists of that generation. After an early childhood spent in Burma and Morocco, Kokian moved back to France where he first experimented with graffiti in the streets of Paris before moving to New York in 1995. There he developed his own offbeat, disconcerting style. His canvases are alive with energy. He intermingles colourful motifs of women, his “Kokiana”, with flowers and allusions to great masters such as Picasso,Matisse, Haring, Warhol, Van Gogh and even Vermeer. There is no place for mere chance in Kokian’s brushstrokes, only for instinct. “Bad Painting” makes way for a work of creation, by a craftsman or architect. It is all in the mind which guides the hand, the gesture asserts its independence over the will. At Jardin Rouge, the artists challenge himself, he sketches on paper instinctively, he forgets it, he reworks, using pastels and colorful pencils.
(Selected solo exhibitions)
2019
Solo show Kokian, Abcynth Gallery, Lille, France
2018
Foire d’art contemporain ARTUP, Abcynth Gallery, Lille, France
2017
Galerie 105, Dubai, Emirats Arabes Unis
Performance pour INDOSUEZ, Genève, Suisse
2016
Galerie Lindengruen, Autriche
Galerie 105, Dubaï, Emirats Arabes Unis
2015
105 Lounge Gallery, Dubaï, Emirats Arabes Unis
2013
Gallery Lindengruen, Vienne, Autriche
Galerie SBK, Lyon, France
2012
“Show me the way”, Galerie Caplain Matignon, Paris, France
VIDEOS of KOKIAN
EVENTS with KOKIAN