Cacao Rocks

Cacao Rocks was born in Athens Greece in 1985. He grew up near the harbor of Piraeus, raised by a French mother and a Greek father. At the age of 12 he moved to the island of Corfu where he spends his adolescence. Back in 1999, hip hop, skateboard culture and the surroundings of the island influenced him and led him through to discover his passion in arts. That was the year he started experimenting with graffiti. In the same period of time a graffiti contest was held by Greenpeace in Corfu, in which he participated and won first prize. From that moment on until 2003 he was devoted to this form of art and created numerous graffiti pieces and lettering by using spray cans. In 2004 he moved back to study French Literature in the Philosophy School of Athens. Due to the fact that he had to commit to his studies he decided to make a pause in public space arts and constructed sculptures made off polyurethane, wool, wood and found objects. After an Interrail trip in Europe that gave him the urge to carry on as an urban artist, inspired in a great scale by the European scene, he started to craft street art again. Because of lack of resources, his materials this time were quite different. He used duck tapes and found objects in the streets in order to form installations and sculptures. In 2009 the Greek magazine FREE mentioned him as the new star of Greek Art. Meanwhile he started to experiment with video art. In addition to that one of his projects was rewarded in 2011 in the national film festival Shoot It with a scholarship in Focus School of Art, video and photography winning the first prize. Finding himself in a very productive period he started painting all over the city having spray cans used again as a media. All the while he created a blog in which he published a drawing every day in order to make a whole year calendar. He had exhibited his work in galleries and museums in Athens such as Benaki Museum and Onassis Art Foundation, in the UK, in Italy, in USA etc. and participated in Street art and Graffiti festivals in Greece and abroad. Additionally, international media were closely interested with his work such as New York Times, Reuters, The Huffington Post, BBC Channel, French TV Chanel France 3 and Arte and German TV channels as Das Erste and 3SAT.

In 2016 he did his first solo shows at Dio Horia Gallery in Mykonos and Borgia- Art in Zurich. The same year he created the wallpaper for the WeTransfer website and started giving lectures at the University of Michigan and other educational institutes.

Recently he was on the cover of National Geographic’s Traveller issue which mentioned him as Graffiti Guru.

Education 

2011-2012: Studies in Video Art and Photography, Focus School of Art Photography, Athens, Greece. (scholarship)  

2010: Bachelor degree in French Language and Literature, School of Philosophy,  National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

2008-2009: Erasmus faculté de lettres, langues et sciences humaines, ‘Université d’Angers, France. Domaine : Arts, lettres, langues Discipline : Langues et littératures françaises.  

Exhibitions

Solo

2016   “Myths Of The Near Future”, Borgia-Art, Zurich, Switzerland

2016   “Cyclades Electroniques”, Dio Horia Gallery, Mykonos, Greece

2014   “Zadig”, (collaboration with ThisIsOpium) Sarri12 Gallery, Athens, Greece

Group (Selected)

2017 “Art in the streets of the world” Ikastikos Kiklos Sianti Gallery

2017   “Generation of the 90’s”, Art Dublex, Studio 4, Athens, Greece

2017   “Public Art Festival – Survival”, Studio 4, Athens, Greece

2017   “Athens is Now”, Alibi Gallery, Athens, Greece

2017   “MEDITERRANEA18”, Biennale of young artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Tirana, Albania

2017   “Ο Τσάβες συνεχίζει να εμπνέει”, Embassy of Venezuela, Athens, Greece

2017   “TRUMPOMANIA”, SALOMON ARTS TRIBECA, New York, Usa

2017   “PARACOSM, a glimpse through Greek Street Art”, BSMT SPACE Gallery, London, UK

2016   “Default 7”, Piree, Piraeus, Greece

2016   “Nerantzia”, Sarri 12 Gallery, Athens, Greece

2016    “Ieri Gnorimia”, Mpouziane Museum, Athens, Greece

2015   “Art Athina”, Widmer Theodoridis Gallery, Athens, Greece

2015   “The Street Is My Gallery”, National Hellenic Museum, Chicago, Usa

2015   “Street Art Is Here To Stay”, Aenaon Gallery, Athens, Greece

2015   “The expanded field art exhibition”, Asylum Art Gallery, Wolverhampton,      UK

2014   “Like New”, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece

2014   “Issalos Grammi”, Pontoporos Gallery, Paros, Greece

2014   “No Respect”, Onassis Foundation SGT, Athens, Greece

2014   “Poster Bike Art Exhibition”, Romantso, Athens, Greece

2014   “Mi Amor Por Ti Es Meravilloso”, Anti Heart, Monterrey, Mexico

2013   “Stop And Stare”, Sarri 12 Gallery, Athens, Greece

2013   “Remap KM 4”,  Remap 4, Athens, Greece

2013   “Feta Yo 5^th”, International gallery, Wolverhampton, UK

2013   “Bike Art  Technopolis”, Athens, Greece

2013   “In Wall We Trust”, Parcheggio Comunale, Airola, Italy

2013   “Tetrapolis Art”, S.A. Gallery, Kea, Greece

2013   “Perspectives on the Contemporary Greek Scene”, Saint-Gervais Theatre, Geneva, Switzerland

2013   “Art4More”, Vrysaki, Athens, Greece

2013   “Urban Lovers”, Romantso, Athens, Greece  

2013   “Art Athina”, Stigma Lab Project Space, Athens, Greece

2012   “Zootrope”, Contemporary Art Meeting Point, Athens, Greece

2012   “Trash Art”, Bios, Athens, Greece

2012   “Graphic Novels Are True”, K-ART Gallery, Athens, Greece

2012   “A4M”, Box Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece

2012   “Colored”, Free Thinking Zone, Athens, Greece

2011   “7ply Project”, Technopolis, Athens, Greece

2010   “Energy Athens”, European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, Athens, Greece

2009   “DogMart”, Art House, Athens, Greece

Festivals (Selected)

2017 “Labas”, Bologna, Italy

2017 “Graffiti Jam”, Reggio Emilia, Italy

2017 “Arte Rurales Emilia”, Emilia, Italy

2016 “Global Graffiti Project”, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, USA

2016 “Old School Meeting”, Athens, Greece

2014 “Ayia Napa Street Art Festival”, Ayia Napa, Cyprus

2014 “Gradient: From Gray To Color Scale”, Ioannina, Greece

2014 “Athens Street Art Festival”, Athens, Greece

2013 “Meeting of Styles”, Athens, Greece

2013 “Street Art In The Park – Ιωνικές Γιορτές”, Athens, Greece

2012 “Urban Lovers”, Ozon Raw magazine, Athens, Greece

Workshops/ Lectures

2017 “Art History Week”, Deree – The American College of Greece, Athens, Greece

2017 University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities, lecture, Ann Arbor, USA

2016 WeTransfer, workshop of the employees of the WeTransfer company, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2016 University of Michigan – Department of Classical Studies, workshop, Ann Arbor, USA