Interview by Jimon

1-You are originally from Paris, France. Why did you choose Los Angeles to be your home?  Well actually I was living in Paris before coming to LA, but before that I’ve lived in Bogota, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Quito and Santiago de Chile, were I was born. So when we moved to LA it was in order to continue my parents legacy of travelling the world and being curious.

2-You started with tagging in the streets of Paris, how old were you and how did it all start?  I was 15 and wanted make the walls look like a giant party. Music was my main inspiration but also the whole new wave pop in the mid-eighties era.

3-Your artist name is MAMBO, why?  Like I said, I was coming from South America and needed a nickname to not get caught by the police.  I was also a big fan of Afro Cuban music, tropical funk such as Kid Creole.

4-Your have done a collaboration with Agnes B. who else would you like to collaborate with?  I like long relationships, so I would like to keep working with Agnes, but also Moynat a French luxury leather goods brand.  As well as Guts/Pura Vida for whom I’ve been doing cover art for 10 years now. I would also love to do a cartoon project and would love to collaborate with an architect in a project from scratch.

5-You have an upcoming pop-up show in Los Angeles, can you tell us about it?  Well, the name is Bright and it’s a first, it will happen in Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles from July 18 to August 3^rd.  It will bring a very diverse team of artist and most likely diverse crowd too. I have a feeling it is going to be a one of a kind event, with some stuff planned but also unexpected things happening along the way. Max Benator, the curator, is generous and enthusiast, I hope the visitors will feel all that!

6-Do you think there is a difference between graffiti art and street art?  Yeah, kind of, at least historically. graffiti came before street art, but to be honest I don’t really care and I like to think that Da-Vinci, Picasso, Wharol, Basquiat or Banksy are all artists, period.

7-How do you choose the colors in your paintings?  It’s like a game and it’s intuitive. I play with colors that I haven’t played with in a longtime and then move to another combination, try things I haven’t yet… etc.  I’m really having fun and I want more always.

8-What kind of art hangs on the walls of your home?  My wife and I like photography a lot, old and new, some old drawings, some art of our artists friends and some of mine.  I have a bunch of sculptures too, mostly wood carvings, from around the world and pretty much outsider art.

9-What influences you as an artist?  Photography, people, attitudes, patterns, like in fashion or interior design, movies, books, songs.  I love thinking of new ideas while travelling or walking. Also while sleeping.

10-What was your toughest assignment, I mean strategically?  Finding a strategy. I’m still looking for one.

11-Do you paint intuitively or do you pre-plan your paintings?  Pretty much everything is intuitive.

12-Do you listen to music whilst creating, if so what genre?  Yes I do. Jazz, Reggae, Folk, Afro, Hip Hop, Soul, Latin… I’m starting to listen to more and more classical.  And I like silence too.

13-If you could have dinner with three artists living or dead, who would be at your table?  Probably Prince, Jean Dubuffet and Pedro Almodovar for a drink, then Picasso, Serge Gainsbourg and Frank Lloyd Right will join us for dinner and Calder, Tinguely, Dave Chapelle, Bukowskiy, Chris Rock, David Hockney and Oscar Neimeyer will stop by for desert and more drinks.  Then I realize this is strictly guys, so we make a few calls and get Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Elsa Soares, Hilma Af Klint, Vivian Maier, Barbara Kruger, Juliette Binoche and Frida Kahlo to join us, so it’s more fun.

14-Three things you can’t live without in your studio?  Music, sparkling water and a chair.

15-Do you have a place/person or thing that you visit for inspiration?  Big trees make me happy.

16-How would someone find you on social media?  instamambo on instagram but also flaviendemarigny, which is a separate projects with a different style of paintings signed with my real name.

17-Anything else you’d like to mention?  “We are all here on earth to help others. What others are here for, I have no idea.” (that’s from WH Auden actually, but I love it.)  More seriously, it is crucial nowadays to stick together, despite all differences.  Humans have evolved by fighting the elements, building and creating together.  That is our history.