Born in 1970, Christophe Tixier, otherwise known as Peppone, is a French Canadian artist who lives near the beautiful French city of Aix-en-Provence. He has often declared that the two most important elements in his art are colours and childhood, and he believes that all art of any worth must draw in some way on the artist’s own early years. Imagination, he says, is more important than a sharp mind, and your imagination is formed when you are a child.

Peppone’s vibrant and uplifting sculptures of familiar characters ask us to re-examine our conventional views of what art should be. His current collection pays homage to two beloved cartoon characters from when he was growing up, Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, but he is also inspired by other iconic comic book and movies characters including The Hulk, Zorro and Spiderman. He sculpts these characters using moulds he creates in his studio, then either mounts them in their own comics or stages them ‘dressed up as other heroes’, calling on everything from his favourite comic strips to the world famous pop art of Keith Haring.

Biography and work by Peppone