Nicolas Buffe


A French artist based in Tokyo since 2007 and whose heroes range from Rabelais to Tex Avery and Orlando Furioso to Super Mario, Nicolas Buffe is the creator of a multifaceted and multidisciplinary universe mixing erudite and popular culture.

Born in 1978, he was part of a generation naturally marked by Japanese culture, developing from childhood a passion for Anime, Tokusatsu, Japanese manga and Video games. Throughout his studies he adds to these references classical works of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque, such as Poliphilo’s Hypnerotomachia. This fusion of narrative and visual influence is omnipresent in his work, mostly based on the humanist notion of Serio Ludere or playing seriously.

Nicolas Buffe exhibited in several contemporary art venues in Europe or Asia, including La Maison Rouge, Paris (2007), the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2008), the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris (2010) and in contemporary art fairs both in Europe and Asia. In 2014, he held a solo show “The Dream of Polifilo” at the Hara Museum of contemporary art Tokyo. Poliphilo’s Hypnerotomachia is the main theme of the Nuit Blanche 2016 in which he participates simultaneously in Paris and Kyoto. He held in 2017 two solo exhibitions at the Hong Kong City Hall at the occasion of the French May, and at K11 Hong Kong.

Projects from the architect