Bio

Born in Lyon and raised near Paris, France, Brown-Kossi experienced a great deal of diversity throughout his childhood and school years. The heritage of his family, originally from the Ivory Coast, provides the artist with a rich background of mixed dialects and languages. Having had his first photographic exhibition in an apartment in Paris, he has since exhibited in France, England and Canada. He currently lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Brown-Kossi's work has been featured in Art Hole 2021, London, UK, in group exhibitions Art Rich 2021 at the Richmond, BC Arts Coalition, Evergreen Gallery, Coquitlam, BC, and is part of a four-person exhibition at the Gibson Art Gallery in 2022, curated by France Trepanier and the CCAFCB (Conseil Culturel et artistique Francophones de la Colombie-Britannique). He is also a member of several professional art associations.  

Statement  

Archaeological pop artist is an art discipline whose objective is to study human beings from ancestral times to the present day through research. Underlying humanity’s diversity in skin colour, culture, language and religion, we are all citizens of the world. I want my art to communicate that We Are One; and, to foster a desire to understand each other, to know, to learn, to experience with an open heart.  

I recreated universal symbols to communicate to all people, to enable the viewer to understand and interpret each symbol for themselves, in their own unique way – a language accessible to all.  

Through my universal language of symbols, I like to use pop colors and abstract design forms. My aim is to interact and communicate with all people of different worlds, to stir curiosity, encourage deeper investigation into our connectedness. I want people to look, to see, to discover for themselves, to communicate and feel joy towards one another.  

www.ghislainbrownkossi.com

What continues to motivate you to create your work?

I always want to push the idea further and that pushes me to create new pieces. Every day when I come home after spending all day in the studio, I realize that I could have done it differently. Imagination is one of my creative engines.

Who or what influences your practice?

I am influenced by my double French/African culture, but I'm also very interested in archaeology, theology, and history. I also have some artists that I appreciate a lot like Jean Michel Basquiat, Takashipom, Jennifer Guidi, and of course Ellsworth Kelly.

How would you describe the mood of your work?

My work brings to stimulate thought and reflection. The use of symbols in my art should not be confused with the sign because it is not conventional and intellectual, but calls from the sensitive imagination towards a spiritual that it suggests without signifying.  

What do you feel is the most challenging part of being an artist?

For me the challenge is to create a series of works without knowing if they will be liked or not. I sometimes have big moments of doubt but our job requires us to create works that we would like to see in the world without being appreciated by everyone.

Tell us about something from your creative life that you are particularly proud of.

I am very proud to have an atypical background. I did not go to art school, but my experiences led me to become a visual artist. I used to work in fashion as a manager of two points of sales for a luxury brand in a department store in Paris. Besides that, I was also an art director/stylist. I had several appearances in fashion magazines and I had also created a webzine with a photographer friend. Since 2017, I’ve worked in the film industry as a costume designer. I worked on several big productions like, Batwoman, Arrow, Flash, See, etc. In parallel to this I decided to give more time to my art and I am very proud of who I have become and the direction I am going.