Xkuz

Fabien Mazé, alias “XKUZ” is a French visual artist born in 1985. Trained as a graphic designer, he works on the architecture of the letter, which he transforms and develops through complex compositions where purity and aesthetic research are mixed. Coming from the Writers’ tradition, the letter deconstructs itself, appears and disappears until it becomes the subject. He then develops a visual language, the “typographic abstraction”, which he intensifies by playing with colours, construction games around the empty and the full, the visible and the invisible. XKUZ then develops a unique gesture, a poetic discourse in which his own name, a substance he draws from his street paintings, seems to resonate endlessly.

His approach is based on the idea of metamorphoses of modern language and its new forms. Even more, his work questions the mutation of information which evolves according to exchanges, its supports and its transmission levers.

Through abstraction and the pigments he uses, XKUZ experiments and seeks the potential emotional impact of his works. The colour, deep and sensory, is incorporated with harmony into this score where each element is part of a great whole. The alphabet and paint are the two raw materials of the artist, who inscribes his work in a process of transmission.

The mastery of the spray can and traditional painting techniques allow the artist to create truly polymorphous works. With no limits on format or support, he has been expressing himself for several years on numerous facades, canvases or even vehicles through festivals, urban art trails, exhibitions and public commissions. From his practice off the beaten track, XKUZ has kept the will to free himself from codes and to emancipate himself from his own rules.
Before producing his works, the artist automatically makes preliminary sketches and a digital model which he works on with a computer. This technique allows him to balance his compositions and to perfect his selection of colours and leaves very little room for spontaneity in his creation (for example, the paint drips added last).

Recently, he has been experimenting with the assembly of solid oak wood and the collage of paper to give life to his works: the use of volume, shadows cast according to the lighting and the work on thickness reflect his desire to develop the presentation of his graphic language.

We note the emphasis that is placed on the phenomenon of abstraction. Indeed, he is experimenting with a new path in his creative process: XKUZ no longer starts from the letter to build the composition of his canvas, but finally integrates the minimalist alphabetical lines of his alias.