Gwazenn (Nana) Collage

Acko (born 1961 in Paris, France) is a French artist who lives in Paris. Her approach playfully desecrates the nobility of oil painting gold and silver leaves, by bringing in recycled elements. We penetrate into a parallel universe where the moment is manipulated, deformed, dramatized and enriched by the combination of materials, shapes and colors. During the winters from 2004 to 2007 she moved her studio to Vietnam. Throughout this period her work was thematically influenced by the lunar calendar. Chinese Zodiac figures are portrayed on the canvas. She transforms the buffalo to take the form of “Buffalo Girl” termed the Bufflette, Bubala or Bubalita. Acko erects facetious figures right in their boots. The horned imaginary personage comes to life through whimsical collage. It is through this technique of building and layering that allows us to enter their soul. Bubalas and their variations represent an alter ego for Acko. They are constantly morphing and evolving as the body of work develops. They take center stage to engage the viewer in an intimate offbeat vision of the world. Acko’s work constantly questions through an interplay of pictorial gestures and words. While using ideograms during and after her Ho Chi Minh City immersion, Acko also explorates her roots: the Latin or Breton languages. Words strengthen the meaning of the formed imagery while simultaneously holding a graphic role. The portraits are painted frontal, the subject watch us in the eyes and are realized bigger than nature. It is an exchange between them and her. The background sometimes covered with metal leaves gives a mirror effect wiping out everything except the human being who arises through the canvas. "I try to take possession of every detail of the face, between love act and cannibalism. "I am inspired by the exuberance of pop art and by the magnificient of Fra Angelico. But on the selfy era I try to perpetuate the look of people I admire and love and to express their look on us."