| Dr. Groo, this young promising, self-taught multidisciplinary artist living now in Montreal, grew up in the woods, dividing his free time as a kid, between shooting cans with an air rifle, chasing wicked trails on ATV, collecting figurines, listening to hip hop since 8, getting OD’d on The Simpsons and learning to take care of apple trees that he’s truly passionate about.
Graphic design, being his day’s work, Groo wanted to move forward his art into a more manual form. He is fascinated by various techniques of intervention, mix of textures, imperfection and relief, in contrast to perfection of computing graphic design, although it is however reflected on his handcrafted art, sometimes by hand drawing pixels.
Locally famous for his surrealist videos of Toudou Redux, a wild bear animal hand puppet discovering the human vices in the city’s nightlife jungle, Groo gets his hands on anything distorted and challenging, appropriating himself any elements related to fresh urban street sub-culture, playing with multiple techniques, by customizing t-shirts, sneakers and figurines.
Dr. Groo likes to mix everything… literally. Like he said, “ I may use my computer for one thing, to create, for example, a stencil, and for the same project, use some trash found in the garbage”. Like a DJ that would mix tribal Brazilian beats with British rock, Groo seeks his inspiration mostly into hip hop music, talented creators like Akroe, filmmakers like Gondry and Tarantino, his fetish authors Brett Easton Ellis and Beigbeder, and other less sophisticated sources of inspirations as American cartoons like The Simpsons, Family Guy, and baby animals – Uh, wtf ? – especially pandas and kitties. He would take a bit of everything he likes, mess up with all of these elements and create a dynamic piece of art with aesthetic equilibrium and harmony, demonstrating that the clashes of genre can be beautiful.
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