Théo Goude
Théo Goude (1998) is a Franco-Korean-American artist whose talents span multiple disciplines. In addition to being a visual creator, he produces music in three languages and crafts his own music videos and album artwork.
Théo Goude. Photo Courtesy: the artist.
Resembling street art and cartoonish caricature, Goude’s visual practice is hard to categorize—“categorization” is a reoccurring topic in this profile. Born into an artistic family in France, Goude started drawing as early as he could remember things. His artistic style is self-taught, with intuitive brushstrokes and free-flowing compositions.
Untitled, 2010, ink and paper, 297 x 420mm. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
“René Magritte is my goat.
Ever since I was three. I saw his work and I was like WOW.”
As a child, Goude drew inspiration from anime books, and for a while he wanted to be a manga artist. Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball (and illustrative archives) had a major impact on him. Pokémon was an important inspiration too, for both visual creation and music making. His album cover art Tofu Story (2020) has stylistic influences from manga and anime.
Tofu Story, 2020, mixed media, 210 x 297mm. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
“Little Prince: Banger.
The message and the drawings.”
Goude says that he finds inspiration in everything and that he is constantly looking for new things that spark his imagination. His inspirations are as diverse as his mediums of multidisciplinary practices, including but not limited to: films by Hayao Miyazaki or Tim Burton’s early sketches; artists such as Takashi Murakami, Kara Walker, and Jean-Michel Basquiat; music, but especially the aesthetics of Missy Elliot, Tyler, The Creator, BROCKHAMPTON, or Donald Glover. When making art, he is inspired by his family, especially the women in his life, and his loved ones. The mixed-media painting JETHUS CWITHE! (2016) is a manifestation of these influences.
“I live in her two arms, she my
bodyguard
She my superhero, she my nemesis
On God
Mom look at us now, I was shy and
she was proud”
JETHUS CWITHE!, 2016, mixed media, 420 x 594mm. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
JETHUS CWITHE! detail. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
JETHUS CWITHE! detail. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
Goude has an extensive portfolio of exhibitions and projects, including collaborations with renowned fashion brands. He designed illustrations for clothing and accessories, such as the Belleville Hills shirt (2018) for Kilomètre Paris’s “Club des Voyageurs” collection and custom creations for Zed Paris accessories. His work also appeared in Desigual Couture’s designs. In addition to these creative collaborations, Goude modeled for Woolrich x NYU and Uniqlo x Banh Mi campaigns.
Belleville Hills (for Kilomètre Paris), 2018, mixed media. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
Goude started making music and videos at the age of 17. Since then, he has delved more into the digital mediums of visual creating in association with music such as album cover art. The cover for Music to Walk To (2024) is a collage.
Music to Walk to, 2024, collage, 120 x 120mm. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
“I’m out, and everyone’s around
Naked, and everything is loud
Changing, and nothing real comes out”
Théo Goude Lights (Ike) (2020)
Goude’s nomad lifestyle shaped his creative life. The architecture and history of the cities and countries that he has lived in or traveled to are important to him. And the people he interacts with have inspired him profoundly. When talking about the places he has been to, he mentions “imposter syndrome.” For him, “different artists from different countries seem to share the same imposter syndrome in different ways. We all want to speak our minds but don’t know how to... (maybe) especially artists. It seems we sometimes struggle to speak our minds, so we make creative works in efforts to be understood better. Or maybe we’re simply painting pictures for things that language cannot express.”
Fade, 2016, mixed media, 594 x 841mm. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
Fade, 2016. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
“I hope no one gets mad at me for
never being home
I travel seven seas, I’m tryna see
the world
Oh I try to fill the void”
I met Théo when we were both studying abroad at NYU London (located also on Bedford Square!) in a class called British Cinema. After befriending him on Instagram, I started following his creative outputs through the mediums of visuals, videos, reels, music, texts, and more. Goude is a multi-disciplinary artist who, like his artistic creative, NOT NOT, is hard to categorize.
Théo Goude. Photo Courtesy: the artist.
NOT NOT is an international collective that aspires to one day become a production company, among other things. It aims to shelter a group of artists who share the same feelings, who are “not not a visual artist” or “not not a musician.” For Goude, categorization is natural, sometimes necessary, in the art world. NOT NOT is essentially an effort to categorize the artists who are “not not a category,” like Goude himself.
Goude describes NOT NOT as an “interdisciplinary collective that has the aim to shine light on other artists as well as to make the art we want without the additional snobbism provided by tropes found within the everlasting art industry that can feel quite limiting. Hopefully we make it a big thing and thrive with each other to discover more artists... Hopefully NOT NOT becomes everything we never even thought of.”
Théo Goude. Photo Courtesy: the artist.
For Goude, illustration is his primary and intrusive artistic medium. In contrast, music is his most challenging form of expression, requiring more effort due to what he perceives as comparatively less innate talent. When drawing, Goude relies on intuition, creating without drafts as his strokes flow effortlessly. He describes his artistic process as a “dichotomy”—a balance between instinctive creation and the deliberate conveyance of a message. Intuition remains central to his approach. So even in the recording studio, he prefers short, focused sessions over lengthy ones.
“I’m so lazy that I found new ways for myself to approach artistic practices.”
Goude embodies the free-spirited essence of Gen Z, unbound by traditional mediums or conventions. His art is a vivid reflection of his personality, deeply inspired by his life and surroundings. Guided by intuition, Goude’s work radiates talent and authenticity. Central to his creative vision are themes of family and love, as poignantly showcased in a personal art piece Merry Christmas Card (2024).
Merry Christmas Card, 2024, mixed media. Photo Courtesy: Théo Goude.
In the future, we have more to expect from Goude. He is currently on-track to design music merchandise. He also plans to make a documentary—length undecided. Goude never lacks creative ways of making cover art and music videos. More projects are coming, so stay tuned!
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Sherry Wu (Yongyi)
Emerging Artist Co-Editor, MADE IN BED