FANBOY II

ABOUT SADDO

short bio

Romanian born contemporary artist Saddo, currently based in Bucharest, has a labile way with style, techniques and subjects. He juggles between paintings on canvas for galleries, large scale murals and commission illustrations for different projects and brands.

His work mixes his taste for artists like Rousseau, Matisse or Grayson Perry, Iranian miniatures, Asian carpets, with his street art formation, and his love of contemporary illustration, decorative arts, hip hop and urban culture. And just like a hip-hop DJ, he samples and mixes different elements, surreal imagery, portraits of rappers, cars, logos, geometric elements, plants, animals, into his own intricate iconography.

He’s been part of numerous group shows all over the world, he’s had solo shows, at BC Gallery, Berlin and Mobius Gallery, Bucharest, and has painted murals in Montreal, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Seattle, Bucharest, Paris, Rabat.

FANBOY I

exhibited in 2020 at Mobius Gallery

In a very POP register, Saddo not only creates pieces on this subject, but a whole ambient. It's something he truly likes, it's a very simple instinct at first glance, to create pieces based on subjects that simply attract you: the contradictory mix of rawness, gangsta culture, but also poetry, status assertion, social issues that lots of communities are still dealing with, criminality and opulence. The art pieces in the series have the feeling of totems or cult objects, not in a magical sense, but in a very real and heartfelt fascination for the subject. Translated in Saddo's stylistic trademark, you can clearly see the weight of this aesthetic, of the urban glam that stays hardcore because it's hard to fake.

Saddo's pieces abound in details, meaningful details with connotations essential for deciphering a cultural context and, zoom-in, the connoisseurs can find references to songs or defining elements for the musicians depicted; the frames surrounding the characters remind us of comic books: flowers, jewellery, cars, brand logos, snakes. They create a story and a complex setting reminding of Oriental miniatures or Orthodox icons (if only they were this much fun).

See exhibition

UVNT 2022

Madrid, Spain

In a time in which manifesting your direct preferences can be totally uncool, Fanboy embraces it. I like this thing so much that I want to dedicate my time and mental space to it, and I'm gonna put my main skill into action to create something on this theme. I'm a fanboy and proud of it. Now that's powah and realness. Too often do we lack this kind of self-assurance essential for reducing the distances between us, as individuals, social and cultural groups, and for communicating by merging our personal playlists and finding a common streamline. As simple as that.

See booth