Karl Lagasse is what we call a self-taught artist. Born in Paris on April 4th, 1981, in an artists' family, he begins to create collages at the age of 7, encouraged by Mimmo Rotella, a closed friend of his mother, Angel Prevel. It’s at the same time that he runs tags in the subway with his adopted brother, member of the Black Dragons. The spirit of urban will not leave him any more. Nowadays, Karl Lagasse is a photographer, a painter (He sold his first painting at the age of 15 in Anvers France), a video director but also a sculptor. He exhibited in Europe, in the United States and soon in India. In 2004, he decides to run away from the crowds of the capital and to settle down in Normandy. There, he transformed the ground floor of his mother’s house into a gallery " Work Shop " where he exposes his works and provides a showcase for other artists. His realizations are, as he likes to say, stemming from a “spontaneous, mindless” approach that responds to " his feelings ". It is only once he achieved a piece that he can see " its own subjectivity as well as his proper truth ". Through his works he tries to answer to his issues on himself and the world. The Buildings, inspired by skyscrapers New Yorker, represent its fascination for the United States but also his " need to build himself, to rise ". Built from rough materials (cement, wood, glass), they are composed of pictures taken by the artist. The Dollar is also a powerful symbol of its admiration for the United States with this written sentence: In God We Trust. The same banknote (serial 1995, the year when the dollar was on its highest rate,) is declined in lively colors and different sizes. Unlike what we can imagine, they are not freeze, but with their twist and wave, they offer a real work in motion. Its paintings and his photography are also inspired by the city (tag, buildings, posters). As a video director, he works with Steven Guyot. The documentaries they make are poetic and allow approaching the work of both artists. Appreciated by his contemporaries, in 2005 he sold in only one evening all his works in the Gallery Brachot in Brussels. Karl Lagasse is an artist who always answers his own desires and follows his inspiration which maintains him in a work in progress.
