“I paint to build a bridge between myself and somebody. I love people. I paint for people.”

His work is a unique and colorful world of abstract characters, birds, monsters, and repeating patterns of color. He is a traveler, skater, and wanderer focused on uniting the human condition through his dream-like paintings, and his work has graced skateboard decks, magazine covers, large-scale murals, and hotels around the world. Our Visual Relay collection, designed in collaboration with Lucas, features his signature art and color on some of our favorite spring apparel, headwear, and accessories. We caught up with him in his new countryside studio in Bernay, France.

Lucas Beaufort is a French “dreamer.”

His work is a unique and colorful world of abstract characters, birds, monsters, and repeating patterns of color. He is a traveler, skater, and wanderer focused on uniting the human condition through his dream-like paintings, and his work has graced skateboard decks, magazine covers, large-scale murals, and hotels around the world. Our Visual Relay collection, designed in collaboration with Lucas, features his signature art and color on some of our favorite spring apparel, headwear, and accessories. We caught up with him in his new countryside studio in Bernay, France.

BRIXTON: How would you describe your profession?

LUCAS BEAUFORT: I’m a French dreamer. I hate saying I’m an artist. We’re all artists. I’m a dreamer because I spend my life dreaming. I’m from Cannes in the Southeast of France. I was born there and grew up with my twin brother. We lived next to the sea, and as kids we were running all the time. We disobeyed a lot. We didn’t like to follow rules. If someone says, “You can’t go there…” that’s where we wanted to go.

Tell us about your connection to art and skateboarding?

Skateboarding was always inside me. And growing up in Cannes, we had to be creative to enjoy skateboarding because there weren’t any skateparks. Art came out of the blue for me though. I started to paint when I was 26. I think I did one drawing when I was 23 and I gave it to my wife and she said, “Never do that again. If you do something bad to me, I will show it to the world!” [Laughs]. It was insanely bad.

Crazy, and now you’re traveling the world making art.

For me, traveling and making art is an excuse to meet people — to make connections. What I want in the end is to communicate with them, to connect, to be linked. I don’t paint for myself. I paint to build a bridge between myself and somebody. I love people. I paint for people.

What do you hope people take away from your work?

Simply: Let’s reconnect. Phones take away from our human connections — and don’t get me wrong — I love to be on Instagram and communicate and see what’s going on, but we need to keep our heads up.

People and experiences are a recurring theme in your work.

I just love to be outside meeting people. Sometimes I’ll talk to a random person and give them my phone number and we’ll talk for an hour. Who does that? I love to take the time. If it’s a stranger to you, I encourage you to take the time. Spend time with them. They will never forget it.

What about your characters and patterns in the Brixton collection?

If you look at the Brixton Visual Relay collection we did, you will see the character that’s a mix of a bird and a human. The human part is the hat, legs, and the arms — and the bird part is the beak. I realized that’s me. I always wear a hat, and I want to fly. It’s me flying above the world, connecting with people. I love this character. A lot of guys get a tattoo of this guy. He’s a funny character who loves to connect with people while traveling the world. He’s happy and he’s always dancing.

What messages do you have for younger artists?

When you start to realize that you’re not here forever, you begin to ask yourself, “What can I do with the time I have left?” I want to experience; I want to wake up in new places; I want to eat something new. We’re not here forever.

Photos taken by Alex Paradis, @alexparadis

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