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Artist Statement
My work draws on contemporary imagery such as advertising, street art, cartoons and self-help infomercials to depict power, fear, desire, human frailty, life, death, and the nature of reality. These themes have always interested me, and I suspect they relate to my childhood readings of Greek mythology. I often add writings in each piece in the form of catchy slogans or illegible scribbles. They reflect my moods, and serve as a pressure valve to liberate trapped raw energy. I use the direct visual language of advertising mixed with a childhood palette of colors for their simplicity. Everything appears to be very literal, sugar-coated; this allows me to explore difficult moral or spiritual discontent in subtle terms or to create a vacuum with dark humor. My work process revolves around an ongoing inner dialogue with my muse. This character that I call Luxury Darkly serves as a compass to me. She is the feminine principle that I tap into to create my work. This character feels so alive that she has become a brand name for my work. The choice of a very direct imagery, borrowed from the commercial world, guided by the process of the exploration of myths creates a visual universe that I call Archetypal Pop. Although I draw, paint, take photographs and mix everything randomly, I don't really have a preference for a final media. The art dictates the medium. I am very liberal however, with my lack of concern for the "unique piece". I sometimes create unique pieces, but I prefer series. Each piece I do is like a little story, and I want to reach as many people as I can. If art touches many lives, it influences them in a positive way. And this, my muse tells me, is what art wants to do. A small biography. PART 1 Guillaume Wolf was born in 1969, in Dakar, Senegal, on the west coast of Africa and was raised in Paris, France. Around the age of seventeen, he started to design black and white flyers for underground parties to support himself. Simultaneously, he learned typography, design and the arts from friendly artists who took him under their wing (such as Geneviève Gauckler, and later, Marc Atlan). Ten years after his modest debut, Guillaume had become a boldface name art director and illustrator, working full-time in fashion and design. Wolf has had a longstanding relationship with luxury cashmere designer Lucien Pellat-Finet, collaborating on the knitwear line's iconic imagery and designing colorful print ad campaigns. Wolf has worked for, among others: Lacoste, Vogue Paris and Isabel Marant. And he's also designed the logo of the pioneering Parisian boutique Colette. These numerous collaborations in fashion and advertising gave Guillaume a unique understanding of visual communication that still permeates his artwork today.  PART 2 In 2002, Wolf relocated to Los Angeles for "the sun, the lifestyle and the freedom" . This geographical move was also a symbolic break. This marked a shift from commercial work to a new start with personal art. 2002 marked his first art series: "The Red Skulls," based on an alphabet made of shiny plastic red skulls. If everything looked like it would be an easy transition... it wasn't. It took Guillaume over 4 years of solitary soul-searching until in 2006, he finally launched Luxury Darkly - a new brand name for his art. Of these 4 years Guillaume recalls: "It was tough... I went to the abyss and back to find my muse." "But," he adds, "the struggle was worth it because in the end, it shows... Luxury Darkly is very personal, it grabs you. It jumps at you." Luxury Darkly is picking up momentum in the art community. It has been featured in seminal magazines such as Arkitip, Juxtapoz and Faesthetic. Today, Guillaume is busy working on various collaborative projects from his home base in Los Angeles.  |
