On the occasion of Art Central 2024, we decided to shed a light on French painter and graffiti artist Cyril Kongo whose artworks will be exhibited at the booth of Step Creation Gallery from 28 to 31 March.

Born Cyril Phan in 1969 in Toulouse, France, from a Vietnamese father and a French mother, Cyril Kongo spent his early childhood in Vietnam, until the fall of Saigon in 1975. When he arrived in France as a refugee, he didn’t speak French and his only way to communicate was drawing. During his adolescence, he lived for several years in Brazzaville, in the Republic of the Congo, where he became more confident, surrounded by friends who were writing poetry, rapping or dancing.

As a refugee, Cyril Kongo’s concern was to be recognised, and graffiti became his voice. “I wanted to write my name in the city, and I used the city as a huge canvas”, he says.

Cyril Kongo and his mother

When he moved to France, he took the name of Kongo and started writing on the walls of Paris in 1986. ‘I embraced African culture, as well as my French and Vietnamese roots. Taking the name of Kongo was a symbol of universal humanity,” he explains.

In the 80s, graffiti and writing on walls started to become a movement, a universal language based on lettering with large colourful spray-painted letters. Through graffiti, Cyril Kongo started to meet friends from New York, Rio de Janeiro, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona. No need to speak the same language when you can express yourself by painting on the walls. In 1988, he joined the MAC Crew, a group of Parisian graffiti artists with whom he painted monumental murals from 1989 to 2001.

Graffiti painting, 1998, Saint Denis, France

In 2002, with the Mac Crew, he launched Kosmopolite, the first ever international graffiti festival in France, with the aim to promote graffiti and street art. In 2012, Kosmopolite became worldwide with the Kosmopolite Art Tour Festival, happening every year in major graffiti hubs like Amsterdam, Brussels, Casablanca, Sao Paulo or Jakarta.

In the 2000s, he started painting on perennial surfaces. In 2009, some of his paintings were displayed at the Grand Palais museum in Paris as part of the exhibition Tags in the Grand Palais. In 2011, he had his first solo exhibition, De la rue jaillit la lumière (Light Springing From The Street). Since then, Cyril Kongo has been exhibited worldwide.

Cyril Kongo, Jet Setteur, 2019

Curious, open-minded and constantly pushing the boundaries, the artist started crossover collaborations with brands. In 2011, he created a silk scarf (“carré”) for Hermès. In 2016, he collaborated with Richard Mille to create 30 uniques watches. In 2018, he was asked by Karl Lagerfeld to design for the Chanel Metropolitan Museum of Art show on the theme of Ancient Egypt.

His influences are multiple, from travelling and meeting different people and cultures, to artists like Monet, Basquiat or Warhol, as well as young contemporary artists. “I have to be surrounded by creative people. Every little things can inspire me. I have no limits, no boundaries”, he says.

Cyril Kongo and Chanel, 2018

Hong Kong has a special meaning for Cyril Kongo who has many friends in the city, including art collector and gallerist Stéphane Vartanian who had a crush on him many years ago and bought all his artworks at the time. Vartanian represents him in the region, organising pop up events, including a solo exhibition in Tokyo in 2022 (see our feature about Stéphane Vartanian here).

“Hong Kong is a city which never sleeps, like New York. For me, Hong Kong means life and is a huge inspiration”, the artist says.

It’s also in Hong Kong that Cyril Kongo met the Managing Director of Hermès Asia Pacific, while he was tagging on a wall on a Sunday afternoon in 2007. Their collaboration started from this encounter, with the decoration of the Hermès window shop in Hong Kong. Later, the artist was proposed to do an Hermès scarf, and the rest is history.

Cyril Kongo for Hermès window shop in Hong Kong

Cyril Kongo’s latest artworks on canvas will be showcased at the booth of Step Creation Gallery at Art Central from 28 to 31 March.

More details can be found on www.stepcreation.com