Soklak

Soklak (born 1977) is a French painter who came from graffiti. In 1986, he discovered the graffiti in the corridors and carriages of the Paris metro. He put up his first tags in 1993 in the streets of his suburb, then spent several years devoted to writing and street painting.

In 1995, Soklak enrolled at a graphic arts school, graduating in 1998. He then painted less in the street and more large, finished murals, often on waste ground and in disused industrial sites in the Paris suburbs. Around 2002, he tried his hand at canvas. The smaller format drew him away from classic graffiti lettering, without losing the speed of the gesture.

Soklak then developed a passion for calligraphy. He draws on Hebrew and Arabic, as well as Egyptian and Asian scripts, and blends their forms with the graphic codes of graffiti. In 2015, he joined the Calligraffiti collective, which brings together contemporary calligraphers.

From 2020, Soklak removed lettering from his canvases. His painting became abstract and moved closer to Abstract Expressionism and lyrical abstraction. The gesture is fast, and the splashes of paint recall Georges Mathieu. Ellia Art Gallery, on rue de Turenne in Paris, presents his work.