Jean Moderne

Jean Moderne, aka RCF1, is a French artist born in 1974 who splits his time between Paris and London. Influenced by the MOD movement of the 1960s, he started painting as a teenager before discovering New York graffiti in 1987 and dropping out of art history studies the following year. His pseudonym takes its initials from the Clash song "Rudie Can't Fail", a nod to his deep roots in rock culture. A pioneering figure of French graffiti, he interviewed New York legends Dondi, Quick and Phase II in the 1990s for the magazines 1TOX and Radikal, then developed a body of work where tags, ghost-like exclamation marks and charcoal-toned murals meet studio painting. His pieces can be seen on the walls of Angers (Échappées d'Art), the M.U.R in Rennes and across Paris.