A closer look at Kashink's creative process
Can you tell us a little about yourself and your artistic practice?
I am Kashink, an activist artist practicing a form of public art, in the form of performances, films, and street art. My work questions aesthetic codes and identity.
What is your background and how did you get into design?
I think I had creativity very early on, but it was in my teenage years that I really started to draw and invent characters or tags, or even make films.
I grew up in the suburbs, there was a lot of graffiti on the RER line that led to Paris and I had friends who painted a little. But it was a little later that I started graffiti. Little by little I made contacts, I traveled and I painted a lot out of passion before being able to live from my art.
In 2013 I received an invitation to participate in Art Basel in Miami and since then I have been regularly abroad to paint or exhibit.
In your day-to-day work as an artist, what inspires you? What triggers the creation of a work?
Inspiration can come from anywhere, it's a bit difficult to describe the creative process. Personally, I never prepare my paintings in advance; I just improvise each time. So, it's often what I feel inside that inspires me at the time. Often, my characters express the emotion I felt at the time.
Can you explain how you go about creating your work? What are the different stages of creation?
When I see a wall, I think about how I could fill it, different compositions that could work depending on the size, shape, texture. I try to visualize what the most effective lines would be, or the message I want to convey. Then, depending on what materials I have, I get started.
As it's always improvisation, I never know what the final result will be before finishing, often the work is built as I create it.