| This was the time when I met Ouattara, an African painter who later introduced me to Jean Michel Basquiat during his exhibition at the Yvan Lambert gallery. Thus was born my passion for spontaneous writing, which I etched into metal with a plasma pen. The metal being raw and untreated, it underwent natural oxidation from the sea air (hence my work and research on different forms of oxidation). I also designed a lamp for Jean Michel Basquiat: a lamp for painting in corners. Jean Michel Basquiat was working at night with my friend Ouattara in a disused workshop lit by a simple light-bulb, painting outsized formats (4 m x 2 m). At their request, I created a lamp for them with a pivoting 500 watt bulb mounted on a billiard ball, thus enabling them to work at night by providing them with omni-directional lighting. In addition, I gave each of them a small “Kavi Savi” which I personalized for them with my etched spontaneous writing. |
