The French artist Zevs (born Christophe Aguirre Schwarz) is a pivotal figure in the street art movement, known for his bold interventions in urban spaces and his distinctive approach to brand critique. He was born in Saverne, France, in 1977, and lives and works in Paris.

Zevs began as a graffiti artist in Paris in the 1990s, using various pseudonyms such as 'The Shadow Flasher' and 'The Serial Ad Killer'. His pseudonym 'Zevs' - pronounced 'Zeus' - refers to a train that almost ran him over while tagging in 1992.

Since his early days working on the streets of Paris during the 1990s, Zevs has become one of the most prominent figures on the contemporary street art scene, along with other French artists such as Andre and Invader.

Zevs is best known for his trademark ‘Liquidation’ technique, in which he transforms seemingly solid images into evocatively dripping ones that are perhaps more unstable than they seem. He has experimented with various methods in his graffiti, canvases, and performances that help him

to subvert the ubiquitous, commercially driven and Hollywood-driven culture of the 21st century.

From city sidewalks to gallery walls, Zevs reacts to urban signs and consumer codes, questioning public space, art, and the relationship between art and consumerism.

In the past, this has included a high-profile ‘kidnapping’ of a figure from a billboard, an infamous arrest following his creation of a large-scale mural of a liquidated Chanel logo in Hong Kong, and his “Visual Violations” series, in which he blurred out the faces of figures like Jim Morrison and

Marilyn Monroe. With his work, Zevs offers a commentary on the lasting widespread influence of these figures, as well as corporate logos ranging from Louis Vuitton to Coca-Cola to Apple, on contemporary culture. No matter what he does to them, these images are instantly recognizable to nearly everyone.

In 2008, Zevs held his first solo museum exhibition, “Electroshock”, at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a classical art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. The exhibition featured works from all his major series up to that point, displayed alongside masterpieces from the museum's permanent collection, including Édouard Manet's The Absinthe Drinker and Auguste Rodin's The Thinker.

In 2009, Zevs held his first solo exhibition in Asia, “Liquidated Logos”, at the Hong Kong-based gallery Art Statements, showcasing his clever distortions of major brand logos.

In 2010, his work was featured at the Moscow Biennial.

In 2011, Zevs had his first solo exhibition in New York, “Liquidated Version”, at De Buck Gallery, continuing his artistic commentary on corporate influence. The exhibition featured well-known brands such as Coca-Cola and Louis Vuitton, along with financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Goldman Sachs. Many works showcased Zevs’s signature liquidation technique, visually dissolving logos before viewers' eyes and creating a distinctive dripped effect.

In 2016, building on his interest in liquidation and dripping logos, Zevs created the “Big Oil Splash” series (also known as “Swimming Pools”), inspired by David Hockney’s iconic 1967 painting “A Bigger Splash”. This provocative series, critiquing globalization and the oil industry, was showcased at Lazarides Gallery.

Selected Solo Shows:

·   2025/2026 – Upcoming

A retrospective exhibition at the Wood Art Institute, Hamburg, Germany is scheduled for spring/summer 2026

A solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MoCA Shanghai) is scheduled for January to April 2026

A Japan retrospective tour in Osaka and Tokyo will feature Zevs's works across several galleries, including a solo show at Parco Museum Tokyo, scheduled for June to September 2025

A solo exhibition at Kunsthal n Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark – Date to be confirmed

A solo exhibition at Artrust Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland – Date to be confirmed

A sculpture will be commissioned and exhibited at the Renault Group Foundation, Boulogne-Billancourt, France

·   2025 – Current

“Sombras Electricas”, Alliance Française, Havana, Cuba – Ongoing until February 28th

·   2024

“Minimal Painting”, Galerie Torri, Paris, France

“Visual Overdose”, Art installation at Art Basel Paris, The Invisible Gallery, Paris, France

“Temporary Sanctuary”, Over the Influence Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand

·   2023

“Room 711”, Hangaram Art Museum - Seoul Art Centers, Seoul, South Korea

“Voleur d’Image - Magie du Louvre”, Musée du Louvre, Paris France

·   2022

“Le Serpent Cosmique”, Lille3000 - Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse, Lille, France

“Tumultes”, La Collégiale Saint-Pierre-le-Puellier, curated by Danysz Gallery, Orléans, France

“Berlin, nos années 20”, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France

·   2021

“Oikos Logos”, MAMO Centre d’Art de la Cité Radieuse, Marseille, France

“Phillip Morris Still Life Locked Room” – permanent installation, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

“The Last Cowboy is Dead”, New Galerie, Paris, France

·   2019

“15th Biennale de Lyon”, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon France

“Aguirre Schwarz Savoure le Rouge”, New Galerie, Paris, France

·   2018

“Aguirre Schwarz aka Zevs: Supreme Même”, Over the Influence Gallery, Hong Kong, China

·   2017

“Zevs: Liquid Assets”, Taglialatella Galleries, New York, USA

·   2016

“Noir Éclair”, Château de Vincennes, Vincennes, France

“The Big Oil Splash”, Lazarides Gallery, London, UK

·   2015

“Zevs: Elle”, De Buck Gallery, New York, USA

”Aguirre Schwarz au Pays de l’Or Noir”, Galerie Rive Gauche, Marcel Strouk, Paris France

“The Autobiography of Aguirre Schwarz. An Exhibition by Zevs”, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

Selected Group Shows:

·   2025

“Effets Indésirables (Side Effects)”, New Gallery, Paris, France – Ongoing until March 29th

“Shared Horizons”, X Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba – Ongoing until February 28th

·   2024

“Why is Urban Art Now: From Bangucheon to Urban Art”, Ulsan Art Museum, Ulsan, South Korea

“Monomythology”, The Hole Gallery, New York, USA

“Netflix and Chill”, New Gallery, Paris, France

“2024 Urban Art Biennale”, Völklingen Ironworks (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Völklingen, Germany

“Sous Influence”, New Gallery, Paris, France

·   2023

“BIENALSUR”, Babel Mallorca, Mallorca, Spain

“Module of Temporality (MOT)”, Danysz Gallery – launch of new cultural center, Kiev, Ukraine

·   2022

“Capitales: 60 d’art urbain à Paris”, Hôtel de Ville, Paris, France

“Wonderwalls”, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf – Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany

“2022 Urban Art Biennale”, Völklingen Ironworks (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Völklingen, Germany

·   2021

“Swimming Pool - Troubled Water”, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

·   2020

“Wall”, Urban Spree, Berlin, Germany

“Aguirre Schwarz / Zevs: Atone Etoile”, Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France

·   2019

“Post Contemporary - Urban Graphics 7019 ”, Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Shanghai , China

“Who Cares”, New Galerie, Paris, France

·   2018

“Art From The Streets”, ArtScience Museum, Singapore, Singapore

·   2017

“What’s Up Doc”, New Galerie, Paris, France

“Dessins Perturbateurs”, Galerie Métropolis, Paris, France

·   2016

“Painting Is Dead. Long Live Painting”, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain

·   2015

“Summer in the City”, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

This series of four paintings revisits David Hockney’s “A Bigger Splash” with a critical dimension. Using Hockney’s technique and vibrant color palette, Zevs transforms the scene by adding logos of global oil companies on the white wall of the villa. These logos are ‘liquidated’, with paint dripping down like an oil spill into the pool. In a striking addition, Zevs introduces Monet’s Water Lilies into the pool, merging Hockney’s iconic Californian imagery with Monet’s representation of nature. While the blue of the pool and the white villa still reflect a certain idealized way of life, the Water Lilies also serve as a metaphor for exponential growth. Like real lilies, which can double their coverage daily, they evoke the rapid, uncontrolled expansion that parallels environmental and economic crises in a capitalist world.

The series echoes the passing of time through its colors and symbols. Each piece captures the cycle of change, while the accumulation of oil logos and the presence of the Water Lilies reflect on the growing impact of human intervention over time.

In a final twist, the artist plays on the notion of value and economy, signing the work as ‘Money’ further emphasizing the critique of corporate power intruding into nature and everyday life.