Bom.k, founder of the legendary french crew Da Mental Vaporz, has always been one of a kind in Franceâs Graffiti scene. One only has to look at his drawings, canvases and walls to be convinced. Born and raised in Paris southern suburbs, self though by necessity, he developed his unique style in the streets and abandoned factories of his youth. Quickly, he set himself free from Graffitiâs traditional rules, to follow his own road and create a unique universe, full of distorted monsters, screaming flesh, hybrid sexual creatures, claustrophobic cities and hellish visions.
Beyond the themes he explores, what first strikes viewers when discovering his work, is the incredible dexterity with which he handles spray cans. No one is supposed to draw such thin lines with this rudimentary tool, just like no one is supposed to reach this degree of precision. Spray cans simply havenât been invented for that. And yet, thanks to the days, weeks and years heâs spent locked in his studio, taming the cansâ pressure, carving minicaps in their plastic leads, Bom.k has managed to reach every artists holly grail: an original touch, a unique style, immediately recognizable by the public, that has earned him the respect and admiration of his pears.
Thank god, the women Bom.k creates donât exist. They are just fantasies, a mirage of his imagination. Just like his B-boys or his monsters, the idea here isnât merely to try and reproduce realty but rather to explore their inhumanity. To elevate to the rank of pure beauty, the ugliness, sickness and abnormality of these lost souls. Their heads have disappeared, replaced by spray can nozzles. Their terrifying bone structures create flesh puzzles, like if Chernobyl had created sexual hybrids, both intriguing and fascinating. Despite the initial rejection they provoke, his hardcore creatures, stuck in abnormal pornographic poses, canât help but create a weird sexual tension, repulsive, fascinating and attractive at the same timeâ¦
