Nasty

Born in Paris in 1975, French-Swiss artist Nasty is one of the city's first-generation writers: he started painting walls and subway cars in 1988, aged thirteen, and joined the AEC crew (Artistes en Cavale) in 1990. The art world picked him up early, with a first show at Galerie Magda Danysz in 1992 alongside JonOne and Psyckoze, and he went on to make the enamel signs and pocket maps of the Paris metro his signature supports. His practice is all about the written word, from the wildstyle he sprayed on trains to a calligraphy rooted in medieval rotunda script, drawn freehand with rectangular caps that mimic a broad-edged nib. He has shown at the Grand Palais and the Pinacothèque de Paris, was given a Faits & méfaits retrospective at Fluctuart, and has worked with Coca-Cola, Monoprix and Kidrobot. In 2019 he painted Prends ton temps for the exomusée in Le Locle, Switzerland, a call to slow down addressed to the pupils of the Jeanneret school in the country's watchmaking capital.