KiKo

Manuel Fernandez, aka KiKo, is a French artist born in 1985 in Martigues, a commune near Marseille nicknamed the "Venice of Provence", which inspires his Mediterranean colors, particularly the fiery orange that floods many of his works.

KiKo has always had a taste for drawing. As a child, he was said to draw like he breathes. With a single, assertive stroke, he pencils the emotions they can't express in words. School only fascinates him in art classes, so his path seems clear. But art is not a subject for this family of sailors, whose passion is first and foremost the sea, and above all tuna fishing.

From an early age, KiKo joined his family's tuna boats, the 30m-long giants of the seas moored in Port-Vendres, leaving his pencils for fishing nets; you don't just leave the ship! When he was older, he spent many months at sea, stalking schools of fish colonized by tuna. There he learned discipline, fear management, resilience, teamwork, sleep deprivation and solitude. To escape this harsh sailor's life, where the sea constantly calls him to order, KiKo builds himself an imaginary universe where childhood hangs in the air, inspiring all his work.

All KiKo's art is a tribute to childhood and the special place it should have in the hearts of all the world's children. A fervent defender of the protection of children and respect for their fundamental rights, he is involved in numerous charities and hopes that his art will contribute to a greater mobilization for childhood. For if the sea stole KiKo's childhood, art allows him to (re)experience it with every brushstroke.