PRO176 was born on July 26th, 1976, in Paris, and grew up in Choisy-le-Roi, a small town in France’s capital southern suburbs. Born to an accountant and a stay at home mother, nothing in his family environment predestined him to an artistic carrier. Starting age 5 however, he taught himself how to draw by copying the art of Jack Kirby, the famous American comic illustrator – ultimately becoming a lifelong influence on his work.
After seeing Mode2 and Colt painting during the 1989 “Youth for Equality” festival, Pro had a revelation, deciding to dedicate his life to painting. In 1996, he joined the Grim Team, christened Pro176, and took part in the foundation of the Ultra Boys International alongside Golde Jabe, Sozyone, Kool Func88, Byz, Shake and Recto.
Together the crew claimed a new form of graffiti, a combination of Marvel comic book aesthetics, futuristic abstract mathematics, alphabetical constructivism, and the brutality of refined Picasso facial cubism – a “graffiti avant-garde.”