MARKO93

In 1988, in Saint-Denis, Marko and his gang bathed in hip-hop culture from across the Atlantic. They try rap, dance, DJing, and, for Marko, it is graffiti that prevails, fascinated by "the colorful graffiti that tattoos the walls of big cities". Initially very inspired by New York graffiti and tags made with a torch, Marko slides towards calligraphy by discovering the works of Hassan Massoudy. We are in the early 90s, and Marko cuts his caps with a cutter to play full and loose, to imagine abstract lettering at the crossroads of Arabic calligraphy and graffiti, becoming, without knowing it, one of the pioneers of European calligraffiti. In 1999, he tried light painting for the first time, a photographic technique sketched by Man Ray in 1935, and which Marko was preparing to reinvent. It replaces the camera with a camera connected to a computer whose program allows you to assemble the light trails and reproduce them live: here we are in 2003, and Marko performs the first light painting performance in real-time video (real-time-video). This singular and unprecedented approach takes him to the four corners of the world and Marko feeds on these trips to add techniques, inspirations, aesthetics. He discovers Mongolian and Japanese calligraphy, and infuses their curves into his mural works, then into his paintings. For Marko, the workshop is a laboratory in which he experiments with new forms of creation. He juggles with abstraction and the figurative, moving from one to the other, sometimes intertwining the two. The calligraffiti that rhythms his abstract frescoes thus textures his felines with screaming colors, reinforcing their energetic lines and their symbolic dimension. From abstract calligraphy to light painting, from walls to canvases, through body painting and live performances, Marko's only constants are the freedom of execution, the spontaneity of the gesture and an overflowing energy, which reaches its climax in music: "Outdoors as well as in the studio, music is part of my creations. My painting is rhythm, notes, movements". One of his best memories remains the live performance he performed alongside a symphony orchestra conducted by Zahia Ziouani, in the heart of the Opéra Bastille, in Paris: "it was an exceptional and unforgettable experience, one of those that allow you to fight gravity and gain height! ”

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