Tijo Gaucher

tijo (Tijo Gaucher) is a contemporary painter based in Hong Kong, working in acrylic, oil stick, and crayon on canvas. He signs his work "tijo" in red, lowercase, and has been showing under that name since 2025. The practice sits within the neo-expressionist lineage — figurative, symbolic, text-laden, openly indebted to Jean-Michel Basquiat — but is distinguished by its preoccupation with the shadow side of the human experience and a parallel output of physical talismans and 3D-printed totems.

His central premise is alchemical: the profane, faced honestly, becomes profound. tijo paints what most people turn away from — death, money, blood, mortality, the inherited wounds we carry without choosing to — and reimagines these subjects through a lens of warmth, humor, and aggressive earth-toned color. "I paint death," he writes, "but with a smile."

Selected works: Mo-KNEE (2026), Apophis (2026), Water Wars (2026), Gregs Anatomy (2026), Mr. Happy (2025), The King (2025), Untitled (2025).

For the full portfolio and field notes, visit tijo.art