CEET Fouad: LOSt Chix

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Amanda Wei Gallery is honored to announce the opening of LOSt Chix, the latest solo show of our global exclusive presented artist CEET Fouad. His latest works made during the post-epidemic era will bring friends hope and optimism. The exhibition will open on 7th September and run until 7th November.

Breaking the traditional time and space of graffiti, CEET with the Chicanos will invade the gallery from the outdoors. Shifting from the finished graffiti presentation into a live creation will be a brand-new experience for both the artist and the audience. Friends are invited to witness the birth of Chicanos together and know more about the behind stories through in-depth conversations with CEET.

Known as a famous contemporary artist, CEET’s colorful “Chicanos” subjects are hit both on the street and in the galleries. Benefit from his North African ethnicity, the lineage of passion has enriched the expression of this Moroccan artist. With the residency in both France and Hong Kong, he makes the global and diverse perspective an inseparable part of his works.

Grown-up in Toulouse, France, CEET incorporated his understanding of street art into the urban spaces in Toulouse through graffiti and wall-paintings when he was young. Since 2003, he has worked and lived in southern China and Hong Kong, where he has developed his most famous subjects “Chicanos”.

CEET’s cross-cultural background and vibrant artistic expression are particularly in tune with this city’s personality, making him stand out from many high-profile graffiti artists in Hong Kong. Not restricted to gallery exhibitions, his work has also invaded urban spaces and become part of the city’s culture. People can often encounter his large-scale graffiti works when wandering in the city. He was also invited to the Easter celebration held by French May, bringing his unique and interactive works to the local community.

His approachable artistic image and populist artistic philosophy have won him increasing popularity and led to his success in the art market.

Like many people and artists overseas, CEET has not returned to Hong Kong in three years. It is such a long wait for him who has integrated into the Hong Kong community. This is the first time that CEET has returned to Hong Kong after the pandemic. The exhibition is also a mark for his re-beginning to create glocalized art for Home Kong.

From “LOSt Chix” to get out of the lost, CEET transformed stories into artworks. He hopes to inspire friends in the same situation and bring this city joy and the strength to find the way home from lostness. In the future, CEET will continue bringing vitality to this city through graffiti, street art, and other creative methods.

“LOSt Chix” embodies the childhood of CEET as well as his observation of contemporary society. The real and virtual world collides, making reality unpredictable. The feeling of being trapped in the labyrinth of life today recalls CEET the feeling of being lost in his youth. Being in this era makes us feel like being in a maze full of locked doors and long for the correct keys to move forward.

The correct keys are not untraceable. In fact, CEET believes that a creator exists in both the real and virtual world, who is by no means a dominant dictator, but an inspirer. He prompts us to explore freely and to break away from so-called truths.

As social animals, we are not alone even in the maze. Relationships, warmth, support, and belief are vitality clues from the Creator, to lead us to the doors of peace, happiness, and belonging. Through this exhibition, CEET wishes to connect people together and inspire us the spirit of community.

In CEET’s works, his subjects maintain the state of looking up. They are telling us that we need not be afraid when we feel lost. Let’s move optimistically and play freely in this maze.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

1971 born in Oran, Algeria. Moroccan French-Hong Kong Artist. Currently lives and works in France and Hong Kong SAR.

CEET’s humanized chickens portray emotions and personalities. Through the colorful and humorous approach, he criticizes modern society as bringing up ‘followers’, afraid to stand out as individuals and to ‘chicken-out’. When CEET landed in China, he took scribbling visual images as a way of communication. These initial sketches soon evolved into means of experience, which also made him relate the experience of living in densely populated China to the feeling of being one of the chickens in the masses. The small bubbly chickens of various colors and shapes serve as a parody of humans living in this modern, overcrowded world.

CEET has experimented with different media to achieve his characteristic level of quality, such as acrylic and oil paint, as well as pens, markers, metal paints, and sprays. The result is a richly textured and saturated surface, which successfully evokes emotions of endearment and fun in his canvases. Apart from being a graffiti artist and painter, he also has ventured into graphic design and sculptures.

CEET receives exhibition invitations from galleries worldwide each year. In recent years, he has exhibited in galleries spanning four continents. Some important exhibitions that the artist has presented include the Biennale Art Contemporain of Lyon (1997), the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vienna (1999), Shenzhen and Hong Kong Biennales of Urbanism and Architecture (2007), and the Biennale of Urban Art in Germany (2015).