Mucyo
Mucyo is a contemporary Rwandan/French visual artist who graduated from the University of Paris 8 in Fine Arts.
He has developed and continued to explore his own unique style based on “the bleaching process” on textiles. Mucyo first experimented with the “bleach” technique in 2004 during his art studies at the University of Vincennes, Paris 8.
During this same period, he discovered the world of street art in a more intimate way through influential graffiti artists of the Parisian scene.
From then on, he made his pictorial experiments inspired by urban art and African culture. In an incisive and striking graphic style, he draws faces, moments of life, personalities on dark fabrics, burned by bleach, accentuating the “Vintage” effect
“I have always had strong emotions in front of these old degraded photos, degraded by time: it is a very strong source of inspiration. My work is characterized by a pictorial act in two stages. The subject of the canvas, the background of the canvas itself. First, I draw the subject on the canvas with bleach … In a second stage, I work the background. I lose control of the painting at this moment … the traces of bleach transform the canvas itself by drops and splashes of bleach to magnify the subject itself. » (It is only recently that he has started adding Indian ink and paint to add more depth and emotion)
Creating his own unique, non-repeatable universe: I can influence the direction, the movement of the burn… but never predefine it. Unlike painting or adding external elements to create an emotion, I burn the fabric, I remove the color, the material to create the emotion.
I burn the dark side to bring out its light. My work is a mix of abstract and figurative (...) The goal is to leave a mark that must captivate the viewer's eye in an instant (...) making it a source of questioning.
Most of his creations are made during his various travels (Africa, America, Asia and Europe) where he immersed himself in the local experience in order to soak up as much of his environment as possible before paying homage to the history, culture or people of the country through his pieces.
“Ultimately, that’s all I want to do, travel, experience, connect and share by creating… people give me hope and I trust them… what I give back is nothing compared to the riches they have allowed me to feel and see simply by opening their doors and hearts”
“I want to give back to the people who have inspired me… and to those who will inspire others… If I could be an inspiration to even one soul, then part of my mission will be accomplished..
That’s why I appreciate donations or fundraising for great human and animal causes… anything that touches on social, environmental, political and humanitarian issues is an essential topic to remind the public… We are who we are because of others… it is the artist’s duty to bring awareness, issues, beauty or magic to anyone who opens their eyes, mind and heart…. I communicate through an image like a musician uses a note to create an emotion…”
And through his painting, Mucyo immediately captures our gaze and invites us to embrace a presence, strong and brief, striking a look, an anonymous face or a graceful movement.
MUCYO merges the codes between contemporary art and street art. He exploits various cultural influences and transcends historical, mythological, iconic, ethnic, philosophical references…
He imposes his design on the canvas while letting it appropriate its own light in perfect mastery, thus creating intense, striking and above all unique works.
It is perhaps because his works escape him that Mucyo can work the same model on several dozen canvases. Is he obsessed with a specific version of the model he is trying to obtain? by all the versions he can create of the same model? How far must he go to free himself from these faces or characters that haunt him?