Tavar Zawacki, formerly known as street ‘artist ABOVE’ is an American abstract artist living and working between Lisbon, Portugal, and Bali, Indonesia. His works play with shape and colour, creating seemingly 3D forms on canvas, using shadows and perspective to create the illusion of depth.
Tavar was born and raised in California until the age of 19, at which time, Zawacki bought a one-way flight from California to Paris, France, bringing with him a backpack full of art supplies and a ‘rise above your fears’ approach to starting his art career. Starting in Paris in 2000, Tavar transitioned from painting traditional letter style graffiti of A-B-O-V-E, to his ‘Above arrow’ icon that represented his optimistic mentality. During a 20-year period, the artworks of ABOVE could be seen in over 100 cities spanning 50 countries around the world.
In January 2017, Zawacki decided to step out of his self-imposed shadow of anonymity, and start creating, and signing artworks with his real birth name – allowing more freedom of creative exploration, as well as liberation from the arrow icon he has associated himself with.
Tavar Zawacki’s painting styles with his large scale mural works, as well as his indoor fine art are characterized by the use of hard-edge painting, color field, geometric abstraction, Op art, and trompe-l’œil painting styles.
