Kiko

Manuel Fernandez, known as Kiko, is a French artist born in 1985 in Martigues, on the Mediterranean coast.

Coming from a family of fishermen, he spent part of his youth at sea, working aboard the family’s tuna fishing boats. This unconventional path, far removed from traditional artistic training, shaped a distinctive sensitivity that would later find its expression through painting.

Today, Kiko has developed an immediately recognisable pictorial language, driven above all by emotion. His characters and familiar symbols do not seek to tell a predetermined story. Instead, they invite the viewer to connect with a feeling, a memory or an emotion that may have remained deeply buried.

Materiality plays a fundamental role in Kiko’s work. He now paints predominantly on linen canvas, deliberately preserving the natural presence and texture of the material. Applied mainly with a palette knife and built up in generous layers, the paint creates powerful reliefs that contrast with the understated rawness of the linen. His approach remains free, spontaneous and instinctive, carried by a palette in which Mediterranean colours and his signature orange continue to define his artistic identity.

Over the years, Kiko’s work has gained recognition well beyond France. Represented by leading galleries in France and internationally, his paintings are now part of private collections around the world.