The French artist known universally as KiKo, his childhood nickname, is actually Manuel Fernandez, who grew up in the seaside town of Martigues, near Marseilles. He always had a fondness for drawing and painting, though his family’s tradition of sailing and fishing meant that he spent much of his time after leaving school on the family’s tuna boat. But he never stopped drawing and painting, and in 2017 was successful enough with his art to be able to give himself entirely to this aspect of his life.

KiKo/Fernandez is best known for his brightly-coloured Indian ink paintings of children, dancers, teddy bears – and Charlie Chaplin. But he has also created street art, and – as in this series of erotic drawings – some witty and well-observed commentary on sexual relationships.

KiKo’s website can be found here (there are English and French versions).

We would like to thank our Russian friend and contributor Yuri for introducing us to the work of this artist and supplying many of the images.