"As far as I can remember, I just never stopped painting. I started as a little kid and just never stopped creating images. I have no formal training in Arts. I started doing Graffiti in Paris when I was about 12 and I think that's what introduced me to the notion of having a public, which motivated me to constantly increase the quality of my work...
At 18, I decided I was done with school and started working right away using my skills, doing illustrations and comics, a bit of animation, videos... I spent a few years working mostly as a commercial artist, painting for myself on the side. Eventually, I gradually started taking less and less commercial contracts to focus mostly on my personal work as a painter. My subjects are very much dictated by my unconscious and the images emerging from it. I try not to rationalize too much because I feel like I can touch something special if I paint with my soul rather than my head...
I am inspired by religious art, carnival sideshow Art, the Flemish primitives, Folk Art, Rembrandt and Velasquez amongst others..."
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Turf is somewhat obsessed with Victorian-looking midgets sporting dandy facial hair, Russian icons, dead things of all sorts, carnival sideshows and seedy vermin-infested theatre stages. Technically, his paintings are reminiscent of the 15th century Flemish Primitives.
Jean Labourdette, as his mom still likes to call him, has forged a unique artistic vision and signature aesthetic over years of compulsive creation. In the late eighties he began his journey on the streets of Paris as a graffiti artist renowned for his distinctive and surreal characters. Over the years, Jean evolved into a prolific and sought-after multidisciplinary artist working as an illustrator, comic artist, filmmaker and painter. Today, he spends most of his time painting in a messy studio that Bacon would have been proud of, sipping on espressos and beer and talking to himself.
His paintings have shown in galleries around the world including in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Rome, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He has created art for clients such as Kanye West, Sony Music, Universal Music, the Canada Council for the Arts, Pound magazine and Le Cirque
Jean Labourdette (aka Turf One) was born in 1976 and raised in Malakoff (a suburb of Paris, France). In 2001, he moved to Montréal, Québéc, Canada, where he is currently based. In the late 80s into the early 90s, Labourdette was a graffiti writer in and around Paris, going by the name of Turf One. Over the years the self-taught artist honed his skills, evolving into a prolific and sought-after multi-disciplinarian, working as an illustrator, comic artist and filmmaker. In 2004, Labourdette abandoned all commercial work in favor of creating fine art.
At 18, I decided I was done with school and started working right away using my skills, doing illustrations and comics, a bit of animation, videos... I spent a few years working mostly as a commercial artist, painting for myself on the side. Eventually, I gradually started taking less and less commercial contracts to focus mostly on my personal work as a painter. My subjects are very much dictated by my unconscious and the images emerging from it. I try not to rationalize too much because I feel like I can touch something special if I paint with my soul rather than my head...
I am inspired by religious art, carnival sideshow Art, the Flemish primitives, Folk Art, Rembrandt and Velasquez amongst others..."
source
Turf is somewhat obsessed with Victorian-looking midgets sporting dandy facial hair, Russian icons, dead things of all sorts, carnival sideshows and seedy vermin-infested theatre stages. Technically, his paintings are reminiscent of the 15th century Flemish Primitives.
Jean Labourdette, as his mom still likes to call him, has forged a unique artistic vision and signature aesthetic over years of compulsive creation. In the late eighties he began his journey on the streets of Paris as a graffiti artist renowned for his distinctive and surreal characters. Over the years, Jean evolved into a prolific and sought-after multidisciplinary artist working as an illustrator, comic artist, filmmaker and painter. Today, he spends most of his time painting in a messy studio that Bacon would have been proud of, sipping on espressos and beer and talking to himself.
His paintings have shown in galleries around the world including in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Miami, Rome, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. He has created art for clients such as Kanye West, Sony Music, Universal Music, the Canada Council for the Arts, Pound magazine and Le Cirque
Jean Labourdette (aka Turf One) was born in 1976 and raised in Malakoff (a suburb of Paris, France). In 2001, he moved to Montréal, Québéc, Canada, where he is currently based. In the late 80s into the early 90s, Labourdette was a graffiti writer in and around Paris, going by the name of Turf One. Over the years the self-taught artist honed his skills, evolving into a prolific and sought-after multi-disciplinarian, working as an illustrator, comic artist and filmmaker. In 2004, Labourdette abandoned all commercial work in favor of creating fine art.
© Jean Labourdette (aka Turf One)
