On Cartwright Street, in the Granville Island district of Vancouver, Ghislain Brown-Kossi shares a studio of more than 100 square meters with a dozen artists. This is where he creates. Paintings, imprints of its origins. Born in Lyon of Ivorian parents, he relies mainly on symbols, from Africa and ancient Egypt, because “the first humans began to communicate in this way, he explains. We find them in all the communities, even if their meaning varies according to the cultures.” This “archaeological pop art”, as he defines his approach, he carried it deep inside him. But he didn’t come right away. And it was in Vancouver, where he arrived in 2017 with a Working Holiday Permit (PVT), that he discovered it.
“I’ve always had a dreamy side, he says, and at school I was lost.” He first passed a BEP in electrical engineering, then returned to high school and began studying economics and social sciences at the Sorbonne. But, there again, he dreams… Redirected to a commercial BTS – which he quickly abandons – he finally tries again at Mode Estah, a training center for stylists in Paris, then a stay in London, where he works a year in a fashion agency. “I was already creating t-shirts. Besides, I had to create, I had that in me. And it’s fashion that allowed me to go towards art”, he continues.
It was therefore in London that he had his first trigger: the Anglo-Saxon life suited him better than the French, which seemed to him more compartmentalised. Over the course of encounters, often fortuitous, his future takes shape. Through a specialized temp agency, he found several positions in fashion, including one for the Chloé brand, at the Parisian department store Le Bon Marché. If all goes well, if he increases his turnover and rises in rank, the desire to create and live in an English-speaking country still holds him… He frequents museums – Quai-Branly, Fondation Cartier, Louis Vuitton Foundation. “One day, coming back from the Palais de Tokyo, I said to myself ‘that’s it, I want to become an artist'”, he recalls. It begins with some photography exhibitions.
“My name came out on the first draw!”
Having heard about the quality of life in Vancouver, he submitted his file, at the end of 2016, to leave for British Columbia, armed with a PVT. “My name came out on the first draw!” he rejoices. A sign, no doubt. He worked there first as a salesman in a clothing store, then as a costume designer in the cinema because many films were shot in “North Hollywood”.
“The Canadian government really helped the intermittents du spectacle during the health crisis of 2020 and I took the opportunity to take the online courses at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York,” he says. His artistic approach became clearer and, after applying, he joined the artist collective of Granville Island. “One day, while I was buying croissants, I discovered a gallery and I spoke with Jennifer Kostuik, from the Kostuik Gallery, which specializes in contemporary art,” he smiles. Won over, she goes to see the works already made in the studio, and exhibits some of them. This is the beginning of the adventure.
Since then, the artist has sold several paintings and will soon participate in an auction, which will determine his price. Other galleries in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Idaho, USA, have chosen to represent him. The exhibitions follow one another. “I had taken the smallest surface in the workshop”, he laughs. Perhaps she will have to grow, over the recognition that Ghislain Brown-Kossi acquires.