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 KARL 
a new beginning

The first question I wanted to ask Karl was: who are you today?
Karl is a young man of 24 who says he has grown up and found his own way on his own. The young man has become a man, forged by the experience of his previous exhibition and by the more or less positive encounters that have made him what he is today. Along the way, Karl has been confronted with the appropriation of his collages by others and conflicts over intellectual property. These events prompted a profound rethink that lasted almost 2 years until his return today.

Where have you been?

During the year and a half he was away, Karl forged an artistic personality that left no one indifferent. In his view, the ease with which his collages could be reproduced and the artworks he used prevented his works from being truly his own. A quest for meaning has guided his new exhibition. To create a personal art that resembles him, like a signature. The impostor syndrome, so long grafted onto the young artist he was, is no more. He doesn't consider himself an accomplished artist yet, because he hasn't explored everything, but he knows that he has time ahead of him and that one day his name will be recognised for its true worth. The impostor syndrome, so long grafted onto the young artist he was, is no more. He doesn't consider himself an accomplished artist yet, because he hasn't explored everything, but he knows that he has time ahead of him and that one day his name will be recognised for its true worth.

A personal quest

In conversation, he reveals that he was unable to adapt to the school system. Self-taught in drawing, painting and collage, he learns on his own, develops his own technique and excels. For him, art schools are too restrictive and involve being conditioned to certain techniques and the opinions of teachers. He wants to evolve without barriers and find his own way through his conception of beauty. Karl is a perfectionist. He has been searching for himself for several years, conditioned by the principle that realism is, strictly speaking, Beauty. Certain that true art lies in the perfect reproduction of reality, in exact proportions, a complex exercise for him, he thought with conviction that digital art was the logical and inevitable next step in the art of tomorrow. His personal quest has revealed to him what seems to be quite the opposite. "I'm a modern art guy," he says. He respects Impressionist and Naturalist artists and recognises that their technique is extraordinary. However, he finds inspiration in much more contemporary works by artists such as Nicasio Fernandez, Shintaro Kago and Kaws. Manga and Japanese art are also very present in his life, and these inspirations come from long hours spent poring over the nooks and crannies of Instagram. His family and his environment are also a great source of inspiration. Sometimes he uses rap punchlines to illustrate his work. Creation is spontaneous. These artists have put my mind right, you don't have to know how to draw to be an artist as long as what you do provokes an emotion in someone>>. For him, things done with the hands, the techniques of drawing, painting and sculpting, must undoubtedly endure. They are more authentic and true, and allow the artist to communicate. It was after discovering this that painting became an obvious choice for him.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Firstly with a wife and children, family being very important in his life. Then with a gallery in his own name, in Toulouse, his home town. And finally a school in Côte d'Ivoire, which gives children a taste for art, basic knowledge and access to the equipment they need to discover and learn. In all cases, now or in 10 years' time, success is not an option, it's compulsory.

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