Killa is a 25 years old Portuguese artist born in the city of Porto. Killa Was Here is a direct reflection of the artist’s livings, focusing most of his work around themes such as love and death. Each painting tells a story about the artist, his personal life, or some external factor that has somehow touched and inspired the artist. In Killa's art work we can often find some of his iconic motifs such as the killa smiley face, killa butterflies and the most recent "Killaz" teddy.
Despite the joyful and vivid colors present in the young artist's work, which end up transmitting a happy and cheerful experience to the viewer, Killa's art is often related to dark and twisted inspirations. The killa smile, which is immediately associated with happiness and the smiley face emoji, actually represents the unfortunate and common battle of today's youth with anxiety and depression. On a first look the viewer is confronted with a contented expression, but the twisted smile accompanied by the tear on the left eye actually act for a hidden sadness, as a metaphor for the characteristics of people battling depression, who on a first view appear fine but are in reality dealing with inner and personal mental issues.
Killa is well know for his tridimensional works, where he tries to escape the flatness of regular canvases by creating sculpture like structures, with the purpose of hanging them on the wall.
