Daumot 163 by Kriki 99 ex

Limited edition of 99 H : 16.5" L: 6.7" W: 7.1" 10.8 lbs Kriki, born in 1965 in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France, lives and works in Paris. At the start of his career in the early 80s, Kriki contributed to the avant-garde beginnings of the Street Art movement, and in 1984, he founded a group of painters called "Nuklé-Art." Still today, Kriki embodies the punk culture of French contemporary art in his work. He also clearly belongs to the generational sensibility of Free Figurative Art, a movement which he helped to renew. In 1985, Kriki invented a character, le "Fuzz": half robot, half polymorph fetish. The omnipresent character became a signature of the artist, recognized by its emblematic head which would come to sit on the shoulders of this Daumot 163 robot. Kriki said of this particular piece: ‘‘My passion for robots and robotics in general has always been there. Robot toys in particular, made of silk-screened metal of the 60s have always fascinated me, and it is what I collect. I have always been amazed, moved even, by the sophisticated manual work and the French technical skill, which radiates throughout the world. On site, at the Daum crystal manufacturer, I reconnected somehow with my passion for the arts and crafts in which I find myself. Moreover, as a painter, the exploitation of the colored pigments and their richness speaks to me. This part of liberty in the final interpretation of the alchemy of colours, as well as their intensity, simultaneously retained and returned by the crystal, is why I sought to fuse the material with light in designing the Daumot 163. And if Daumot 163 – and I must admit – is a dream come true, it nevertheless remains that living sign and marker that perpetuates the fusion of contemporary art and the French know-how represented by this Nancy manufacturer, nourished by its many artistic collaborations. I like the idea that a robot, which does not exist in a natural state, embodies technical intelligence, skill, mastery, ingenuity, and even virtuosity that still characterizes the art pieces stamped by Daum today."