Painter, stonecutter, sculptor, tattooist, engraver, artists as polyhedric as Roti are in general rare to come across more so in graffiti.

Good for street art, difficult as a journalist: talking about his art becomes a challenge because of the
impossibility of deciding where to start from, and what, amongst the various techniques he has mastered, to focus on.

This 24 year-old French artist from Thonon-les-bains, gained huge attention in 2012 when he painted a wall in Atlanta, for the urban art festival, Living Walls, which was painted out by locals, who found it to be “demonic”.

Seemingly unfazed by the move, he says that “the experience in Atlanta was … very important, both from a human and an artistic point of view”. By this, he means that street art, being by its nature, ephemeral, and painting walls, which for Roti, is a way to communicate with people in their own environment, were both achieved. Moreover, he explains that it is more about the moment of painting than what is left behind.

However, rather than being demonic, Roti’s characters seem more to be part of a dream. Hybrids and metamorphosis, where fish become cathedrals and catch fire, where women stretch their arms out, as if they were giving you a hug, only to  turn into poison snakes.

Roti’s interest in animals and anatomy makes him curious about every possible transformation in nature and the human body. His ideas come from his imagination, but he gets inspiration from the environment and the local community.

Something interesting to notice in Roti’s work is the omnipresent architectural element of the cathedral. This comes directly from his work as a stonecutter and sculptor, for which he trained for years working also in Carrara in Italy.

His real passion is indeed sculpture – he always goes around carrying a hammer and a chisel and engraving every possible surface, and looks at a piece of stone with the eye of the old masters. Talking with him about working on marble reminded me of a phrase in Michelangelo’s poem 151:

“Not even the best of artists has any conception that a single marble block does not contain within its excess, and that is only attained by the hand that obeys the intellect.”

Roti’s dream is to combine sculpture and street art. He told me he would like to bring his creations in the streets to let everyone enjoy them and see people’s reaction.

The artist is now working in Angers, France, to finish his wall commissioned for the Artaq Festival 2013.