Buan Alexandre | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

After much travel and two stays on the volcanic island of Reunion, Dadao now lives in Lyon. His inspirations are fuelled by his passion for film, musical, and cultural milieus or emblematic figures such Nelson Mandela, Obama and Aimé Césaire. His work also feeds on Black Culture, undoubtedly enriched by his Reunion and Mauritius origins.\n After studying Graphic Design and Liberal Arts, Dadao earned a degree in Fine Arts at the Sorbonne-Paris I. This training brought him into contact with different movements that directly influence his artistic universe. The most significant were Impressionism, Expressionism, Pop Art and Street Art which he practiced for a time. While he had already painted for a few years, the success of his first exhibition (in 2013) would consolidate the artistic style he then adopted: the portrait.\n Dadao does not carry out preparatory sketches for the chosen personality, everything happens in his head, in his imagination. Beforehand, he listens to music, texts or discourses about the chosen “star"", then he transcribes on canvas the expression of the feelings he has related to the imaginary portion generated by his perception of the icon. He combines a predominant colour, atmosphere and character drawn with precision on the canvas with colourful, contrasting and, dynamic strokes (pure colour for more strength and brightness).\n His painting is figurative, gaudy, expressive and lively, using mainly acrylics, which he sometimes mixes with ink and watercolour with a technique the blends brush and knife. Generally, as a final touch, Dadao uses a brush to splatter the paint.\n His works offer us a benevolent vision, expressive and often smiling, of contemporary iconic figures that mark or have marked our societies, and cultures; those who play a vital role in building and maintaining the social imagination and collective identity. And of these emblems, Dadao offers us a new face!