Mikel Pollo Daverat

A self-taught painter from Bayonne with strong ties to the Basque Country, Mikel Pollo Daverat started skateboarding at eight and moved into graffiti in the mid-1990s before turning to studio painting. His work aims for spontaneity and simplicity, drawing on skate culture, cooking and music, and follows the kitchen principle that nothing is lost and everything is transformed. It centres on "Pollo", an imaginary bird-man figure who stands for free expression, and Basque traditions and nature run through much of it. He has shown work at the Comparaisons salon at the Grand Palais in Paris since 2013 and joined the Taylor Foundation in 2015. He also paints commissioned murals and gives live painting performances with music, and in 2024 he painted a wall on Quai de Lesseps in Bayonne for the Points de Vue festival.