Artist’s Graffiti-Style Portraits of Women Are Vibrant Plays on Color

One could say Yoann Bonneville is a portrait artist. But that would hardly encompass everything else that goes on in his artwork. Rather than faithfully representing women’s faces, his subjects double as the platform for an experiment in color and shapes. And cleverly, the artist also inserts his initials—YBA—into each composition, innovating how an artist can show ownership over their work with just one look. Born in 2000, Bonneville launched his career as a self-taught artist after finishing his baccalaureate. His style became sharper a year later when he became known by some galleries and buyers. “The year 2020 marked the beginning of my artistic career, the first year in which my art was born and the first year in which I began to make a living from it,” he tells My Modern Met. “My art has become unique and recognizable thanks to the fragmentation that characterizes my faces, fragmented into the three letters Y, B, and A, or fragmented into my signature. The first fragmented face is called New Hope and was created in 2020, which marked the beginning of my artistic style.” Bonneville usually creates portraits of ordinary people, which is a purposeful choice. “I like that observers...