SkunkDog

Skunkdog is an artist with an unconventional career path. He was born in Marseilles, France, and says he was born "on the If castle".

He started to paint after 17 years of working as a bartender: "I started everything late in my life: music, painting. I look, I listen, I get inspired and then realize that I can do things". Working in bars became a routine, and boredom made him aware that "other things exists, like poetry for example". His painting debut coincided with the birth of his daughter. And this provided a surprising argument that strengthen his artistic conviction: he chose painting, an activity that doesn't make noise, because he could not make noise.

After a few years in Paris, Robelin, a painter from Dijon invited him to take part in an exhibition in a courtyard in Provence. Some time later, he met Françoise Siffrein-Blanc , who organized an exhibition in her home. Then everything happened very quickly. In a week, she found another place for him to show his work, and this time it was a famous one: Greenhouse, an alternative spot for artists in Soho, NYC.

The street is not his territory, but he knows it well, it's his laboratory "in the street, painting has many forms, it is not unique: it is made by vandals, taggers, graffiti artists. Marseille is an open air museum, the street has everything for those who know where to look".

He started painting in oil, and today he uses all mediums and materials to paint what he calls his "figurative" : strokes of color, a lot of colors to paint forms, characters, his town. "I paint Marseille because I know it, I know my city, it inhabits me. No need to be elsewhere to create, Marseille is much more creative than Barcelona, London, Berlin or Paris. That is why the city is essential to me".

His art is created in his studio but it is totally inspired by the street. Meeting the graffiti artists of the NWS crew in Marseille has opened even more doors for him. This has allowed him to return "to reality" : not to take himself too seriously, to "return to the basics: painting should come from one's gut and instincts. My nickname has come to life with them and they have given life to what I am. (...) I want to stress the fact that the anonymous of the street are the real artists, it is them who give life to street art and make it legitimate; I am trying to be an witness to that".