Born in 1978 in Bagnolet (FR)

Lives and works in Biarritz (FR)

Guillaume Grando grew up between the Paris suburbs, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic, where he discovered surfing—a major source of inspiration that nurtured his fascination with water.

At the age of 11, Grando became interested in the hip-hop movement, as well as architecture, design, and art. By 12, he was already painting on various surfaces, including walls, objects, and clothing.

In 1995, Grando founded the multidisciplinary collective HV, where he explored the letterform, blending calligraphy with typography. The collective spanned across several disciplines, such as painting, graffiti, photography, graphic design, DJing, and music production. During this time, Guillaume designed logos and graphics for the hip-hop and electronic scenes in the South of France. In 1997, he graduated from the École Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques in Montpellier.

In 2007, a visit to the Musée Fabre in Montpellier introduced him to the work of Pierre Soulages. He was particularly moved by Soulages' "outrenoir," which he describes as calm, elegant, emotional, and powerful.

In 2000, he met Koralie, with whom he shared a deep interest in Japanese culture. She became his partner and introduced him to studio work. Under the pseudonym SupaKitch, Grando began painting his first canvases and also created two large sculptures in resin and wood. These sculptures were exhibited in 2007 during the Ubiquity exhibition in Paris and Miami. After this experience, he started a collaboration with Mr. Lee, founder of the Elegance Gallery in Taipei. Mr. Lee became a collector of his works and exhibited him alongside Georges Mathieu, Pierre Soulages, and Robert Combas. Their collaboration lasted for ten years.

In 2008, Grando moved to New York. His work grew increasingly complex, blending diverse influences such as organic forms, architecture, music, and calligraphy, and shifted towards abstraction. During this time, he participated in exhibitions in New York, Miami, Denver, Mexico City, Paris, Taipei, Beijing, and Shenzhen. He frequently traveled to Biarritz to reconnect with the ocean and continue surfing. In 2011, he met Paul Lefèvre, alias Son of Cobra, a surfboard designer who introduced him to working with resin.

In 2012, upon returning to Paris, Grando struggled to find a studio and began exploring tattooing. This experience marked a return to drawing and figuration. He was frequently invited to tattoo in New York, Los Angeles, and Mexico City.

In 2016, Guillaume Grando settled in Biarritz and devoted himself intensely to experimenting with resin, mixing it with pigments to explore themes of randomness, brightness, reflection, and depth. These explorations led to his series Swimming Pools and Pool & Sun, and brought collaborations with numerous brands, including Figaret, Ikea, BMW, Pyrenex, Lacoste, and others.

He realized that his experiments with resin were aimed at capturing the undulating nature of water and its unique ability to reflect light. This insight led to the idea of sculpting the surface of the canvas, although it took him more than a year to perfect the technique that allowed him to create the first work of the Surface & Depth series.

Grando then embraced a more radical approach, breaking away from figuration and simplifying his work around five key elements: color, gesture, movement, light, and material.