Embrosos, 2024

Ceet Fouad  

CEET FOUAD, [pronounced: “see-tee"], born in Oran, Algeria in 1971, of Moroccan origin, he moved to Toulouse in 1978 at the age of 7. Coming from the second generation of graffiti artists in the world, he began painting in the 1980s.

The revolution (the art of evolution) of the chicken people...a fight for dignity.

As is often the case at the origin of an idea, there's an anecdote. CEET's chicken is no exception. This artist, originally from Toulouse, exhibits his graffiti all over the world. He has lived in Hong Kong for about ten years. Upon his arrival in China, not speaking Mandarin and not always finding English-speaking people to talk to, he got into the habit of drawing to make himself understood. In restaurants, for example, and that's how his first chick was born! This amused his friends a lot, and one of them, a toy designer, suggested he make a figurine.

Little by little, the bird became a leitmotif, eventually establishing itself as a major figure in his creative universe, in the form of graffiti, but also sculptures and inflatable structures. The chicken, mass-produced and consumed in every corner of the world, took on symbolic value for him. Due to its banal and universal character, the animal, considered a simple foodstuff, raised in deplorable conditions, emblematic of junk food because it is pumped up with hormones and stuffed with antibiotics, is rehabilitated in its condition as a living creature worthy of respect.

CEET gives each of its "chickens" a personality, and even goes so far as to do so with affection. Like Walt Disney's mouse, CEET's "Chicano" appeals with humor.

From there to seeing it as a metaphor for the human, there is only a feather...

His work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions around the world, from New York to Hong Kong, via Singapore, London, Taipei and Marrakech.

These international events have helped to establish its reputation and take its colorful and committed world well beyond French borders.