Urban Art rooted from traditional graffiti
• Although rooted in traditional graffiti in both material and composition, BLO’s current practice displays an acute sense of awareness in moving from an urban landscape to gallery spaces. What for many is a difficult space to negotiate, it is within this quiet rift that BLO’s paintings breathe.
• BLO’s involvement with graffiti stems back to his past in Lyon, France, where initially, his work was driven by not only the raw necessity to paint, but also to vandalize or in a sense, destroy. He uses creativity as a device to question, invert or pervert aspects of daily life. There is a recognizable speed of the hand, looseness of line, as well as composition and materials (the frequent use of spray paint and ink marker) that directly draw from traditional graffiti. BLO is still actively working in urban settings, but is moving away from letter styles and illustrative characters. His current street work has become more figurative, drawing from religious imagery, sex, death, and classical painting. Within the exploration of this subject matter another parallel to graffiti is conceptualized--the assertion of power by actively defacing or reappropriating common images. This difference in context between the street and in the studio does not divide the work, but creates a visual dependency - a mutual relationship that ultimately strengthens both parts of his practice.
• In keeping with this classical context, BLO’s use of recognizable images and themes create a direct basis of familiarity with the audience. The body, specifically the sexualized female form, harks back to aspect of the “male gaze,” where the influence of Egon Schiele is seen in the use of truncated bodies, loose lines and sexual confrontation. It is also within this reconfiguration of the physical body where aspects of the surrealist sculptor/photographer Hans Bellmer can be seen by BLO’s embrace of tension via the use of physical abstraction and negative space. Other iconic references pervade the work such as religious imagery (especially the iconic Virgin Mary and the Christ Child), mememto mori, and occult symbolism.
• Although working between the street and the studio can be problematic, BLO takes advantage of this gap by deftly playing with references and medium.
Currently living in Berlin
Notable artist for worldwide mural projects
- Notable Exhibitions & Mural Projects:
2021: Exhibition "Together", Art Thema • HéYī Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2020: Fresco curated by Rouen city for Impressionist Normandie Festival, Rouen, France
2020: Group exhibition, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne, Australia,
2020: Performance on cable car container, city of Clichy, Paris, France
2019: Mural commission at Groupama Stadium, Offside Gallery, Lyon, France
2019: Exhibition at ST’ART Arts Fair, Strasbourg, France
2019: Exhibition at Art Elysees Art Fair, Paris, France
2019: Exhibition at URBAN Art Fair, Paris, France
2019: Group exhibition, Fondation Desperation for Urban Arts, Paris, France
2019: Group exhibition, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2018: Group show at Art Spot Korin Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
2018: Installation at Daniel Wellington Showroom, Berlin, Germany
2018: Art Residency, Beit Ha'ir Museum, Tel Aviv, Isreal
2018: Solo show, Galerie 42B, Perpignan, France
2017: Art Residency at Villa Domitia, Perpignan, France
2017: Duo Exhibition "Nymphas", Lourmarin, France
2017: ATEA residency, Mexico City, Mexico
2016: Urban Spree Mural residency, Berlin, Germany
2016: Amalgam, in collaboration with Jaw, Berlin, Germany
2016: LINK, Galerie Arthema, Brussels, Belgium
2016 UrbanArtFair, Galerie 42b, Paris,France
2016: Residency at Villa Alliv, group exhibition, Marseille, France
2016: La main qui dessinait toute seule, group exhibition, Galerie Magda Danysz, France
2015: RideTheWall, group exhibition, Genève, Switzerland
2015: Dreams have no titles, Solo exhibition, Swinton Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2015: Analog Y, group exhibition, 886 Geary Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A.
2015: Liquid Art House, group exhibition, Boston, U.S.A.
2014: Glasshouse Art Residency, Berlin, Germany
2014: Conturbanaries Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2014: Positions, Group Exhibtion, Open Walls Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2014: THE WALL ,DMV Group Show, BC Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2014: BC Gallery, group exhibition, Germany
2014: A MAJOR MINORITY, Group Show, 1AM Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A.
2013: LA PETITE MORT, Solo show, Open Walls Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2012: URBAN MASTERS, Opera Gallery, London, UK
2012: DMV group Show, RTIST Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2011: Crimes of Minds, Brest, France
2011: Stroke Urban Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2011: Wedding Wall Projects Berlin, Germany
2011: Teufelsberg mural, Berlin, Germany
2011: Galore Street Art Festival, Copenhagen, Danmark
2011: DMV group Show – GHP Galerie, Toulouse, France
2011: Dirty play , Blo & Amigo, Xlab, Berlin, Germany
2010: Meeting of Styles , London, UK
2010: Dans Mes Veines, Galerie l’Art de Rien, Paris, France
2010: Galerie AllOver, Solo show, Lyon, France
2009: Get Your Shoe Shine Box, Brooklynite Gallery, New-York, U.S.A.
2008: Art au Grand Palais, Paris, France
2005: Performance, Hotel de ville, Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, France
