by Isha Sesay 

Behind the art of Arnaud Liard

Arnaud Liard weaves the essence of city life into his work, where texture, colour and form come together in a striking visual language. Emerging from the Parisian graffiti scene, his artistic evolution has carried him from the spontaneity of street murals to the depth of canvas and sculpture, with each medium feeding into the next. Inspired by the raw beauty of urban landscapes, Liard constructs compositions that pulse with rhythm and contrast, capturing the delicate balance between entropy and order.

You started as a graffiti artist and have since moved to canvas and sculpture. How has this evolution shaped your artistic approach?
Graffiti gave me an instinctive and spontaneous approach to gesture while instilling a deep sense of rigor in composition. Through the exploration of letters, I learned to construct space, play with fullness and emptiness, and strike a balance between colour and form. When I transitioned to canvas, I sought to translate this energy through contrast and movement. Sculpture followed naturally, extending my need for construction and pushing me further in my pursuit of volume and texture. Today, these three practices inform one another, deepening my creative expression with a fusion of spontaneity, precision and structure.

What sparked your interest in mural art and why do you continue to explore with this medium?
Mural art allows me to directly interact with an urban space and place my work in a living, moving environment. I like the constraints of a large format, adapting to the architecture and connecting to a site. Over time, I have come to realise that one of the most important aspects is sharing my work with the public. Painting in a public space means offering something that is accessible to everyone, without a filter, and seeing how it resonates with people and fits into their everyday lives.

What is your source of inspiration?
The city is my main inspiration and subject. Urban planning, architecture, the erosion of time on materials, and the contrasts between order and chaos. I observe a lot of what surrounds me – textures, colours and traces of human passage.

Your work balances structure and disorder. How do you navigate this tension?
It’s precisely this tension that interests me. I grew up in Paris, a city of strong juxtapositions, where everything changes from one street to the next. Its architecture is a blend of eras, its atmosphere oscillates between calm and bustle and its neighbourhoods reveal striking social diversity. I play with the paradoxes between mastery and accident, precision and spontaneity, alternating between controlled gestures and impulses. My approach is one of continuous construction and deconstruction, mirroring the ever-evolving city that shaped me.

How do you translate the raw textures and imperfections of city life into visual form?
I experiment extensively with materials and techniques to evoke sensations of roughness, layering, and wear. Using a variety of tools, I scratch, sand, and apply successive layers, creating an almost tactile depth in my work. One of the mediums I’ve developed in my studio combines cement and acrylic resin, allowing me to achieve raw, organic textures while maintaining a certain suppleness in the material. I aim to capture the raw energy of the urban environment and the passage of time: the interplay between construction and decay, and the ephemeral and the durable.

What role does colour play in your compositions, and what draws you to certain hues?
Colour is a central element in my work, bringing rhythm, energy and emotion. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been fascinated by the sensations it awakens within me. Looking back, I realise how much the idea of light runs through my work, like an unconscious quest for what I may have missed in everyday life. Working with these shades is like painting with light: they reveal textures, make the eyes vibrate and confuse perception by playing on contrasts.

Where is your art taking you?
I continue to explore with new techniques, media and formats. I’m keen to develop my sculptural techniques even further. Beyond this, art is a personal journey that is leading me to know myself better and make peace with the world.