Seaty, ‘Kengtung’. Image courtesy Galeries Bartoux

Galeries Bartoux will be presenting a solo exhibition featuring 15 works by French-based artist Seaty in Honfleur, Normandy from 28 October to 1 November. Growing up surrounded by urban art culture, Seaty’s experience with street art began as a child when he started writing tags on walls. In the early 2000s, he joined the Toulouse graffiti scene, going out every night to paint in the streets, highways and railways. He spent over 10 years as an illegal street artist before entering the commercial scene in 2012 to do art full-time.

Today, the artist calls his artwork “the evolution of [his] vandal paintings”. While his works are no longer done on walls, his distinctive urban style remains evident in his works. “I’ve always wanted to keep the spirit of graffiti in my creations,” he explains, adding that he still prefers to work with paint bombs over brushes, and that he draws inspiration from urban street walls for his backgrounds.

While it was initially the adrenaline rush from his illegal street art that drove his artistic expression, he now considers it his passion. “In general, I don’t paint to create a message in particular,” he says. “What is most important to me is to depict an emotion that, if only for a moment, captures the attention of the viewer.”

Seaty, ‘Geiko’. Image courtesy Galeries Bartoux

Working primarily in portraits, Seaty’s style tends towards subjects painted in grayscale, contrasted against sudden, surprising pops of colour. For example, in his work, ‘Yakasa 3’, a woman in a kimono is depicted in shades of grey, white and black against a similarly monochromatic background; however, dashes of colour in her hair accessories and her dress break the monotony of the colour scheme, catching the viewer off guard. In another piece that references the iconic balloon motif popularised by English graffiti artist Banksy, he draws the silhouette of a young girl hanging midair, connected by a series of strings to a colourful patchwork of graffiti instead of balloons.

He describes his portraiture as both realistic and abstract with a heavy element of urban art. Regarding his distinctive colour scheme of black-and-white against colour, he explains that it reminds him of his roots in street art. “I like the contrast of grey and color that reminds me of the city walls with colourful graffiti,” says the artist.

Regardless of his nostalgia for his past, however, Seaty is now living his passion. “For me, nothing is different. I take as much pleasure painting on a canvas as I do on a wall,” he says. “It is the perspective of the people that has changed. They have a different appreciation of my work. Yesterday, they considered me a vandal, but today I’m an artist. There’s a story of rejection and artistic recognition in there.”

He talks about one of his pieces, titled ‘Hanoi’, explaining that he came up with the concept for the art piece while on a trip to Vietnam. “For a month I crossed the country from the north to the south and I met different people, but what has most impacted me is the kindness, the generosity and the strength of this country,” he said, adding that it was in this piece that he tried to express the emotions he felt by contrasting the soft femininity of his subject with the bursts of colour from the graffiti.

Seaty, ‘Hanoi #2’. Image courtesy Galeries Bartoux

More information at galeries-bartoux.com/en/.

ilyda chua