Moss, an artist with a turbulent life
His signature on the label of Novello Toscana IGT Burchino 2012
Looking forward to our Novello Toscana IGT 2012 from the Burchino estate, in the meanwhile, we present a preview of the new label. Since its first vintage, our Novello labels have always contained works by famous artists, the same who had given their paintings for the manifesto of the cultural festival Sois Sete Sete Luas.
For 2012 it gets very interesting... Because the painter who will lend his work to our Novello is not an italian but the french Moss, an artist with a turbulent life that, after a past as a croupier and then as robber, he spent 13 years in jail and to denounce the hell of his inner world and of the society has devoted all his energies to painting. After six years of no-stop creation, benefiting from a reduction of penalty, he came out of prison being considered "artist".
Moss, a brief biography
Heir of brute art defined by Dubuffet, Moss (Frontignan, France) embodies the singular current, for the necessity of expression that requires almost despite his will, for the spontaneity of the artistic act, the form that emerges from the popular movement, which rejects the norm and convention. If Moss has always drawn and began painting at the age of 12 years, it was especially during the seven years in jail, who have been sentenced for armed robbery of banks, that dedicated to painting seriously. «I just had some things to tell, I needed to build me" he says. "I was painting on paper. It was a very violent act. My sister took my first drawings and exposed them. It was an immediate success. For me it was a reason to exist. The painting has filled these years, making me forget the bitterness andthe asperity». His luck was to meet at the central prison of Muret, a criminal court that was interested in painting and dumped him on probation as an artist. Since then, Moss lives of his painting, but not only ... Moss came in volume dimension working on pieces of floating wood. He started sculpting with electric saw subjects more impressive by the railway sleepers. Thus from paintbrush to the electric saw, from the nail to the knife, from the brush to scissors, everything is a creation tool... From linocuts creation tool to the pieces of floating wood, from the railroad ties to pebbles, from the canvas to recycled material, everything is support! Everything around himis material, everything he sees becomes a subject. Moss takes over the world of today, of yesterday and of tomorrow and give it back in living, coloured forms,inspired to the world of comics, music, myths, legends, and crime novels... A universe and a talent that is impossible not to see and appreciate!
From the catalog "MOSS, Retour Aux Origines" by Centrum Sois Sete Sete Luas.
