AYOH
Born in 1971 and based in London, Remi Rough is one of the UK's leading abstract 'post-graffiti' artists. Having started as an old school graffiti writer, spraying letters on public walls and trains in South London in 1984, Remi Rough has made a massive creative progression over the last thirty years as a writer and artist. He is also a founding member of Agents of Change (AOC), an international artist's collective, and part of the popular abstract graffiti movement 'Graffuturism'.
In 1989, Remi Rough moved from the streets to the gallery and staged his first solo show, bringing graffiti as an art form into the gallery. The artist has brilliantly managed to harmonize the outdoor and indoor settings for his abstract form of expression without alienating his signature style. Still working in public space, Remi Rough now also uses spray can and paint brush to create pieces on paper, wood, and canvas. His style is the interplay of vibrant colours, graphic shapes, and clean lines as well as the powerful compositions through dynamic brush strokes, which point to the artist's fascination of art movements of the past such as minimalism and abstract expressionism. So it is not surprising, that the geometrical aesthetic and Rough's balance, tension, and depth in his work reminds the viewer of paintings created by constructivist Kazimir Malevich or of sculptures by contemporary Richard Serra.
Remi Rough established his place in the international gallery scene and art market exhibiting his artwork regularly in cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Miami, Vancouver, Berlin, and Hong Kong. Moreover, the artist's work is described by Los Angeles Soze Gallery, as: 'being acquired by some of the most influential contemporary collectors in the United States and Europe.'
Remi Rough's artwork is featured in relevant specialist literature and surveys on graffiti art, such as 'Graffiti World' and 'Abstract Graffiti'. In 2008, the artist was chosen by curators of Tate Modern to give a talk on the history of UK graffiti, as part of the massive Street Art exhibition, which was being held in London at that time.
Only one year later, Remi Rough initiated the award winning 'Ghost Village Project.' Rough withfive other street and graffiti artists of AOC changed an abandoned 1970‘s side on the west coast of Scotland into an epic open-air gallery. In 2012, Remi Rough and his fellow artists comprised of Augustine Kofie, LX.One, and Steve More spray painted a stunning five-storey Georgian building, which is now considered 'the largest mural ever accomplished in London'.