Darco

Darco
Nationality	Germano-French
Field	Street art, graffiti, Murals, Art

Darco is a German-French graffiti-artist.

Painting in The Bronx, New York 1987, Darco, Zoom, Seen, Loomit

Wall for Palais de Tokyo" Paris, 2003

IP5 2" graffiti on wall by Darco, Photographer Jasmin Derome, paris 2010

Biography

Darco was born in 1968 in Germany (Bielefeld) and moved to France in 1976. There, Darco developed an early interest in art and more specifically Graffiti-Writing. Darco painted his first “piece” (painting) in a suburb of Paris in 1984. Since the early 1980s, he has received worldwide recognition for his style of writing, and is credited for influencing generations of graffiti-writers across the globe.

Darco specialises in the art of lettering. Although he retains the graphic side of the Outline, his style is often labeled 3D^{[disambiguation needed ]}. Originality in style, perspectives and the dynamics of varying forms and colors are the focal point of Darco’s work.

In 1985, together with "Gawki", Darco created the legendary writer crew ‘FBI’, now an international artist collective. Through their originality, choice of subject, concept, style, size and quality of their work, coupled with extensive global travel, the crew acquired the respect of graffiti artists and followers the world over.

Darco was the first Graffiti Artist in France to be convicted for damage to public property in the year of ’89. As a result he was made an example of and suffered an extremely harsh punishment. After much deliberation, the SNCF (French Rail) decided, under the influence of different ministries and media, to set a new punishment for the crime. Darco was finally asked to paint several murals for the train company in order to work off the fine. A few years later in 1994, Darco was invited to be involved in the renovation of Europe’s first train station - Gare du Nord. The result was a mammoth spectacle – the creation of 900 m2 (~ 9700 ft2) of murals in one of the world’s busiest stations.

Since 1992 Darco has held the title of being one of Europe’s first Graffiti-Writers to have acquired the official status of ‘artist’. He is also a member of the American crew UA and the Australian crew TFC. Alongside artistic research, Darco works in several areas of the artistic industry, including decoration, design, fashion, set and stage design, and as an Art Director, adviser and consultant. He also regularly works within Europe, South Africa, USA, Australia and Canada.

In 2006 a book called, "Darco Code Art" was published by "Editions Alternatives / L' oeil d' Horus".

In the past Darco has worked as the artistic adviser of Jean Jacques Beineix, the body double of Olivier Martinez in the film IP5 and has sketched a complete concept for DJ Vadim’s album "The Art of Listening".

Darco’s work has been exhibited in the museums Palais de Tokyo, Centre Georges Pompidou, Kaltmann Museum, Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires and the Grand Palais in Paris, France. Today, Darco continues to work in a consistent and meticulous manner remaining faithful to the essence of Graffiti-Writing and all that he has worked towards.

About Darco

..Darco is an old school graf writer whose mastery of the form in the early years in Paris led him to a carrer as an accomplished mural artist and designer. A virtuoso master of wildstyle, he his able to integrate that energy into the context and finction of the work, whether it’d be the wall of a building, a storefornt sign, or a bus. He and his generation of artists have accomplished much in bringing about a revival of public art so that the visual world we inhabit is much more exiting than it used to be

Henry Chalfant (NYC)^[1]

Traveling to Paris in 1985 while researching for the book Spraycan Art, I fond a street art writer living in the suburbs whose outdoor wall productions were big, bold and extremely well crafted. Following his growing career as we kept in touch over the last 20 years, I have seen the maturation of Darco FBI, as he created his highly charged imagery seen through the internet by thousands of art fans worldwide and in shows in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Africa, Australia, in the US and Canada. A remarkable art journey from self taught spraycan artist to highly respected spraycan painter whose work adorns Museum and Gallery walls as well as the Museum of the Street

Jim Prigoff (San Francisco)^[2]

...only a few worldwide graffiti artists have their own style. A style that you can, at first sight, attribute to the writer. It is partly because some writers - pioneers like Darco for instance - did not have many references themselves and consequently had look for their own way to find their style. I think that the way in which a writer creates his letters always reflects his personality and temper. Darco paints his letters with power and balance. The balance of his combos is remarkable first because he knows like nobody does how to turn his letters so that they make sense with perspective and produce a rush with his straight outline... Apart from those in the USA I know very few writers that have such a distinguishable tag as Darco’s !

Dare (Switzerland)^[3]

Exhibitions

• 2009 :
  • TAG, collective exhibition at le Grand Palais,Paris, 2009.^[4]
  • Exhibition in l’hotel Kube with le Studio 55

• 2008 :
  • Solo show, galerie Bailly Contemporain (Paris) - curator Taxie Gallery.
  • Collective exhibition, galerie Bailly Contemporain (Paris) - curator Taxie Gallery.

• 2007 :
  • Solo show « Melt Gallery » - Sydney (Australie)
  • Solo Show « Carhartt Gallery » - Weil am Rhein (Allemagne)
  • « Galerie Onega » - 60 rue Mazarine, (Paris 6eme)

• 2006 :
  • Solo show «Wooden Shadow Gallery » - Melbourne(Australie)

• 2003 :
  • Mural at Palais de Tokyo for the autumn festival opening (Paris)

• 2002 :
  • Art director of a 200m2 wall for Groundwork Morden - Londres (GB)

• 2000 :
  • « Area 101 » - Adelaide (Australie)
  • Collective exhibition « Totem » - Perth (Australie)
  • Collective exhibitione « Urban Discipline » et réalisation d’une fresque collective - Hambourg (Allemagne)

Books

1000 grafitis y obras de arte urbano
2010
Cristian Campos
Maomao publications
isbn 978-84-96805-71-2

Mural Art
2008
Carpé Diem
isbn 978-3-939566-22-9

Darco Code Art
2006
Wasted Talent #3
isbn 17716411

Blackbook
Author Woshe, introduced by par Darco
2005
isbn 2 86227 461 5

Broken Windows Graffiti NYC
2002
Gingko Press, inc
isbn : 1-58423-078-9

URBAN DISCIPLINES
2001
Author : graffiti-art 2000
isbn : 3-00-007960-2

URBAN DISCIPLINES
2000
Author : graffiti-art 2000
isbn : 3-00-006154

Kapital
2000
Alternatives
isbn : 2862272574

Urban Discipline - Graffiti Art 2000
2000
Getting up / Maximum Hip Hop
isbn : 3-00-006154

Du Tag au Tag
2000
Epi/DDB

Graffiti Art #11 - Graffiti in Paris
Year ?
Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf
isbn : 3-89602-343-8

Graffiti Art #9 - Graffiti auf wänden und maueren
1998
Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf
isbn : 3-89602-161-3

Graffiti Art #3 Writing in München
Year ?
Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf
isbn : 3-89602-045-5

Graffiti Art Deutschland-Germany
Year ?
Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf
3-929139-58-8

Backjumps - Sketch book
Year 1996
?
isbn : ?

Theorie des style
1996
M.Saupe&Co GmbH. München
isbn : ?

Graffiti Lexicon
1993
Author Bernhard van Treeck - Edition Aragon
isbn : 3-924690-88-x

Paris, art libre dans la ville
1991
Herscher
isbn : 273350195X

Paris tonkar
1991
Florent Massot R. Pillement
isbn : 29083822096

Spraycan Art
Authors : Henry Chalfant & James Prigoff

Notes

1. ^ Darco Code Art
2. ^ Darco Code Art
3. ^ Darco Code Art
4. ^ Grand Palais collective exhibition

External links

• Voelklingen exhibition
• Action Art
• Darcotfc
• Taxie Gallery
• Fnac
• Darco, Code Art
• Artcurial : "Art graffiti & post-graffiti" Paris 2008

Persondata
Name	Darco
Alternative names
Short description	Artist
Date of birth	1968
Place of birth	Bielefeld, Germany
Date of death
Place of death