Kongo

The painting of Cyril Kongo is marked by his experiences and his vision of life. After spending more than thirty years painting in the street and working for graffiti to be perceived differently, the artist is now looking for new challenges. Kongo aims to make his painting more complex and to leave his comfort zone. His multicultural influences and his curiosity have forged his identity and artistic style. Urban artist above all; Kongo is part of the first generation of Parisian graffiti artists.

Committed and supportive, he has contributed greatly to the defense of graffiti as a school of painting in its own right. Indeed when the painter speaks of his discipline he evokes the technical and visual complexities and describes it as a real savoir-faire. Calligraphic abstraction, as well as its fluid and spontaneous line, gives it a very singular identity. The artist gives us his most intimate reflections through his painting.

In each of his works we observe coded messages of blessings, abundance of peace and light through the use of numbers or alphabets. His painting is a reflection of himself it’s generous, colorful and constantly expanding.

Kongo never ceases to reinvent himself from his travels and his research on his own limits. His art evolves from his encounters. Thus, when he crossed the path of the prestigious Hermès house, the artist knew how to make this union unprecedented by revisiting the classic silk square for the autumn- winter 2011-2012 collection. From this project a real passion for ancestral savoir-faire was born in him. The quest for the perfect line and the ideal technique reminds him of course his relationship with graffiti. The idea of going to the discovery of unknown worlds and unusual alliances motivates and inspires him.

In this dynamic he works with the Daum crystal factory with whom he makes colorful crystal spray cans. This sculpture is at the same time the witness of two worlds in the antipodes and a hymn to the journey and the urban culture from which the painter is coming from.

Always in search of the unexpected Kongo and the famous watchmaker Richard Mille share the vision of a work never yet realized, a high complication watch painted from the inside. This jewel of technology marks the history of haute horlogerie as the achievement accomplished is grandiose.

His works are present in numerous collections, such as the French architect Alain- Dominique Gallizia, a patron of art graffiti and, in particular, organizer of the exhibition «The TAG at the Grand Palais» in 2009 or in Asia Deddy Kusama the famous Indonesian collector.

Major figure in international graffiti, Kongo, does not seek to remove graffiti from the street, to change the ephemeral aspect or the connotations it conveys, but to present it differently, as a precious object. He uses his pictorial vocabulary in order to go beyond the limits of technique and to link the different disciplines. This demands an impeccable finish in the execution of the works, combined with the choice of materials and partners.