Biography
Painter, sculptor, and ex-graffiti artist, Mohamed Kahouadji slams stories, portraits and animals under speed in explosive canvases. Feeding on the saturated colors of Algerian summers, nourished by electro, cinema and philosophy, he is hypermagnesic, regurgitates an ultra personal mix of pop, surrealism and mannerism. Diverting the codes of the portrait, animal painting and sculpture, he invents a singular vocabulary. New. First step in his construction as an artist: the Tag. He tags, he marks his stage name, his name of Seine, “Bore”, on the walls of the city.
At the same time, he devours the graphic novels of Jiro Tanigushi (My father’s diary), Charles Burns (Black Hole) or Enki Bilal (Bleu Sang). He spots the radical aesthetics of the graffiti of the “Nu School” movement from Mexico, Latin America and Los Angeles. His eye is formed by what catches his eye and his tag is elaborated. It takes volume, color. It becomes Flops, these bubble-shaped letterings, quite difficult to achieve when they are executed in one stroke, or Bboys. So many graphic evolutions which traditionally mark out the course of the street artists. As they grow in size, the result takes precedence over gesture: “The question of aesthetics was finally quickly raised” notes Mohamed who learns in a short time to make color and space resonate.
We find Mohamed a few years later, now a surgeon. Abandoning spray paint and odd jobs, he found his way back to school. “My parents convinced me that I needed a job”.
The teenage graffiti artist has matured. His eye was nourished. Self-taught, he trained his eyes through exhibitions, monographs, travel and the mind through reading philosophers. He is now ready to develop his work. Narrative paintings, portraits and animal portraits, sculpture… The recipe for the cocktail is unique. It explodes the frame today.