FAFI

France

Fafi is a French street artist, recognized for her unique graffiti style depicting sexy, funny, voluptuous girl characters in a made-up world.

Originally from Toulouse, Fafi was born in 1976. She attended private school until the age of 18, when she decided to wonder into the art world. Lack of parents’ support didn’t discourage her, and Fafi’s work was first noticed on walls of her hometown in 1994.

Fafi deliberately cultivates an air of mystery – ‘I never say my real name, I’m just Fafi’. By exploring femininity through stereotypes and using them to her advantage, Fafi not only knocked her male colleagues and competitors out their socks, she also locked toy manufacturing deals with Sony and Medicom, countless press stories and illustrations for Commons & Sense, Vogue, Elle or The Face, big market collaborations with Hennessy, Swatch, Samsung and Le SportSac.

Her art consists of a made up world full of Fafinettes who are human like girls, Hmilos who are little depressed beasts, and Birtak who is a four legged creature who was once a pirate, and various other bizarre characters. The world in which they all live in is called Carmine Vault, and this world transferred into a graphic novel. She says that the Carmine Vault derives from her own life. ‘It’s super-unconscious but it’s completely me and my friends and everything I do. I’m a little bit of Birtak, a little bit of the mean girls.’ The Fafinettes reflect the spirit of Fafi’s personality at any moment, whether it’s seductive or adventurous.

In recent years she has exhibited her work at the legendary Parisian fashion boutique Colette, and brought her images to the products of Adidas, Coca-Cola and Mac cosmetics, as well as turning Lily Allen into a Fafinette for Mark Ronson’s music video Oh My God. Her art differs greatly from many other street artists because she prefers to use paint rather than spray cans, which makes a piece of art take longer making her even more of a target to the police. She has travelled the world sharing her art and you can find it anywhere from the U.S. to Tokyo.

Fafi currently lives in Paris and travels the world to work on her collaborations.

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