Manuel Fernandez, known as KiKo, is a French artist born in 1985 near Marseille.

As a child, drawing came as naturally to him as breathing. With confident and already colorful strokes, he sketched the emotions he couldn’t express verbally. Although his innate love for drawing always accompanied him, he had to put his passion aside during adolescence to join the traditional family fishing business.

To escape the harsh life of a fisherman, where the sea constantly called him back, KiKo constructed an imaginary world to disconnect from reality, and it was the suspended childhood within that world that inspired all his future work.

It was in 2017 that he decided to fully dedicate himself to his passion for art when he met his wife, who came from a family of artists that opened the doors of their workshops and creative worlds to KiKo. Symbolically, he chose “KiKo,” his childhood nickname, as his artist name.

The instant success of KiKo can be attributed to his immediately recognizable artistic DNA. Beyond his use of multicolored India ink, his artistic approach is imbued with simplicity. Each creation by KiKo is a vibrant tribute to childhood and its fundamental importance in our lives.

KiKo found his unique artistic signature through the use of colorful India inks. He diverts these inks from traditional paper and applies them to canvas, creating works where street art blends with expressionism, prioritizing emotion over reality.

Each artwork leads us to awaken the child buried within each of us. Beginning each piece with a charcoal sketch, his movements are guided by an invisible force, producing energetic and striking lines imbued with a creative urgency similar to a graffiti artist in front of a forbidden wall. Through his creations, he questions our contemporary society, highlighting the innocence and childlike candor.

In just a few years, KiKo’s “les Mômes” (the Kids) have become great travelers, from Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, Singapore, Melbourne to Europe. They find homes with collectors, influencers, and many devoted KiKo enthusiasts who have followed him from the beginning. His works are featured in contemporary art exhibitions and salons every year.

As a staunch advocate for the fundamental rights and protection of children, he actively engages in various charitable works and hopes that his art contributes to a stronger commitment to childhood.