KIKO
LOPEZ

Kiko Lopez is fascinated by contrasts—the empty and the full, light and dark, textured and smooth. 

Puerto Rican by birth, educated at the Rhode Island School of Design, Lopez has made Southern France his home since 1991 when he moved to the Luberon region where his wife, Ebba Langenskiold, grew up. Ebba is Swedish, an interior designer who traces her ancestry to the 9th-century Viking ruler of Normandy, Rollo. Together they find inspiration in the numerous antique showrooms and flea markets in Provence and by walking in the hills where Charlemagne once hunted for wild boar. 

“Traces—of history, of time—are what I find interesting,” Lopez says. “They make me realize that we’re part of something much larger, that civilizations come and go over the centuries, and leave traces of themselves behind. These connections amaze me.”

Describing his signature style as “Luminous Primitive,” Lopez’ work is characterized by a commitment to matière, the “mineral texture” of his materials. Whether in the 30-kilo crystal slabs of his furniture or in his “Vesuvian” wall lights, texture is treated as a pictorial element. Similarly, in Lopez’ “Shadow Drawings,” he uses Venetian mirroring techniques to create depth, texture and pictorial elements. Each “Shadow Drawing” is a unique, one-of-a-kind work. 

Some of Lopez’ more recent pieces are influenced by the Korean artist Yun Hyong Keun (1928-2007), whose paintings explore contrasts. “In Keun’s canvases, light and dark are in a conflict for domination of the picture plane,” Lopez observes. “It’s this ambiguity, or contrast between the two, and the way they open into complementary worlds, that interests me.”

Lopez collaborates with prominent designers, such as Gregory Gatserelia, Pierre Yvanovitch, India Mahdavi, Joseph Dirand, Tristian Auer and Jacques Grange.

He is represented in galleries around the world.

“Kiko is a creative iconoclast,” says Benoit Drut of Galerie Maison Gérard, New York. “He learns the rules, breaks them, and makes something we’ve never seen before. He’s never stopped surprising me.”