Imani, 2022

Floo.  

Born in 1985 in the North of France, Florent Béguin aka Floo. showed an interest in art from a young age by experimenting with drawing and painting. He took fine arts classes at the Atelier with Catherine Tournay for a few years. There he learned different techniques such as colored pencil, watercolor and dry pastel. This passion led him to pursue studies in industrial design and graphic design at Rubika, where he refined his skills in various techniques and tools, particularly with regard to the digital aspect.

Floo.'s work is characterized by a duality that combines character drawing with pen and portraiture with acrylic painting. Characters with pen, often done in black and white, have always been his trademark. Inspired by the world of graffiti, street art and caricatures, he highlights a keen sense of detail and a great mastery of shadows and lights. Other creations are in color and use techniques such as acrylic, watercolor, pencils, markers and even coffee grounds.

Through his childish and colorful characters, he begins by addressing with naivety the child in each of us and transports us into a light world.

On second reading, Floo's work takes a darker look at the carelessness of our society's problems (climate change, pollution, extinction of animal species, etc.). He thus seeks to awaken and make our adult conscience react with a more raw, violent and provocative message.

His acrylic painting technique is remarkable and gives life to portraits of popular or anonymous figures. More mature, and at the same time more liberated, these monochrome portraits contrast between the sobriety of black and white and the impulsiveness left by the brushstrokes, the pen strokes. This gives a very striking and incisive result, especially in the depth of the looks and the choice of expressions of his characters.
All these faces cultivate intertwined emotions and feelings that the viewer manages to distinguish and appropriate. We find a mixture of Street art and Pop art influences.

His bipolar universe juggles between the singular expressions of his portraits and the childish and naive drawings. Floo. hides a much darker and more provocative reality. He seeks to arouse the emotions and awareness of the viewer.

His influences include artists like Monsta, Pandakroo, Sainer Etam, Stom 500, Created By Imrie, Isaac Malakkai, Dominic Beyeler, Zane Prater, and many more.

Floo. has presented his work several times through different exhibitions in the north of France. He exhibits his portraits permanently in different galleries.

Today, Floo. continues to explore new techniques and push the boundaries of his art. He recently created an identity character, the Bee, which he will spread in the street through collages and stencils. His goal is to succeed in creating a bridge between his two distinct worlds.