Remi Rough
South London, England
Born in South London in 1971, British artist Remi Rough has been a cog in the wheel of the art world for over thirty five years. A key exponent of the ‘abstract graffiti’ movement in the 1990s, Remi Rough began his career in the 80s on the walls of the city, creating large scale murals
which soon developed into abstract-expressionism-meets-graffiti-art. Today, having branched into canvas and paper, Remi Rough is represented by a number of galleries worldwide and has had solo exhibitions in cities including London, New York, Rome, Berlin, Paris, and Los Angeles. In 2018 he created his first permanent installation for the MTR in Hong Kong as part of the Art Basel HK program.
His work - both on concrete and canvas - breaks down conceptual and material boundaries, implementing his viewer at every turn. Both timely and timeless, Remi Rough simultaneously speaks of historical art movements while carving out an immediately contemporary aesthetic. In his work, bright shards of colour coalesce in evoking both the constructivist compositions of Malevich and the colourful cubes of De Stijl artist Mondrian. But he doesn’t stop there: Remi Rough works in a series of distinctly urban elements, lending the pieces a raw feel, as well as a depth which transcends the viewer, almost implicating them into the work itself. Utterly unique, Remi Rough’s work doesn’t simply represent experience - it is the experience.
