Auction Of Globally Renowned Artists On The French Riviera Benefits Coral Reef Protection And Restoration

Vibrant yellow googly eyes outlined in pale blue oil stick peer out from the top left of the canvas, adjacent to a face with three vertically stacked eyes. Large drips of white and blue paint obscure the chattering teeth frantically farmed in red in the lower canvas, hinting at water and perhaps someone being silenced. The artist’s name “moyo” is scrawled in pale blue oil stick over the face, suggesting a personal narrative. Myriad self referential symbols swim around the monumental painting, soaring more than five feet high and over feet wide. The bold colors emerge from a graphite background, evoking an emergence from darkness into light.

Móyòsóré Martins, Emi Ko (It’s Not Me) (2023) is among the 36 artworks featured in Thirty Six for Coral, an exhibition presented by The Coral Collective, an initiative by ocean charity Project Zero, on view June 12-20 at the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. Emi Ko is among select pieces to be auctioned at a closing gala on June 20, with proceeds directly supporting coral reef protection and restoration around the world.