Serge Gauya, real name Serge Gauye, was born in Sion
in Switzerland in 1977. From an early age, Serge was attracted to music and
painting. Throughout his childhood and adolescence he was immersed in art
through his parents: his father does a lot of painting and music and his mother
is an antiquarian. He studied music theory and piano at a conservatory, as well
as drawing and painting courses at a school in his hometown. At the end of the
1980s, one of his drawings was selected and displayed by the city of Sion at
the exhibition "Sion se greffe sur l'avenir" (Sion joins the future).
He also met artists such as Morris, the creator of Lucky Luke, and the Swiss
painter Charles Menge who, after seeing Serge's drawings, strongly encouraged
him to continue in this field. Charles Menge gave him a painting on which he
made the dedication: "Dear Serge, There is no art without caricature"
His musical career began in 1992 at the age of 15 when
he released his first single "Much Money" in Paris. In 1995, under
the pseudonym MegaWatt, Serge embarked on a tour of France alongside the group
Imagination. In 1996, Serge created his own music publishing, production and
events company, alongside his studies of natural medicine in Geneva then in
Paris. At the end of the 90s Serge worked on several releases, including
"Don't Play", a duet with Cameroonian artist Racine Sagath. In 2006,
his Spanish album "Me Siento Latino", distributed in the United
States by Warner, enjoyed good success in Latin America, specifically in
Ecuador, as well as with Hispanics living in the United States. In 2008 he
wrote the anthem for the Swiss football club FC Sion. In 2009 his song
"Valesanos" became the song of the Valaisan and Swiss Centre in
Bariloche, Argentina. In 2013 Serge created an internet radio station
specializing in Latin music called "Vibración Latina", which since
April 2016 has been broadcast in several regions of Switzerland in DAB+. In
2014 released the song "La Única de mi Vida" in collaboration with
Fulanito, the star of "urban merengue".
Serge has won two awards in the United States for his
music. In 2008 he received the "Premio Estrella Music Awards" in
Miami and in 2014 the "Fox Music USA Latin Awards" in Houston.
His artistic influences have been enriched by his
experiences as well as by the many trips that he makes around the world for
tours and event organization, during which he is impressed with colours, sounds
and atmospheres.
Throughout his musical career Serge has always felt
the need to paint and draw, but this passion really took hold in 2012 when he
met the Egyptian-Swiss art dealer Mahmoud Abou El Ainin, who discovered his
work and pushed him to also focus on painting. Since then, Serge has lead these
two complementary careers in parallel, and brings them together during certain
exhibitions.
Serge's work is exhibited in several galleries and
museums around the world and some of his paintings have been exhibited in
several contemporary art exhibitions in the cities of Miami, Tokyo, Paris
(Louvre Museum Complex), Naples, Helsinki, Berlin Rome, Stockholm, Munich,
Pisa, Vienna (MAMAG Museum), Cannes, San Diego, Montreux, Leukerbad, Oxford and
New York (United Nations Headquarters Exhibition), Barcelona (MEAM - European Museum of Modern Art)
Serge has also repeatedly represented Swiss
contemporary art in exhibitions organised in collaboration with the Swiss
government: in 2012 in Kuwait, in 2014 in Asunción in Paraguay during the week
of la Francophonie in collaboration with the French alliance, and in 2016 in
Cairo, Egypt.
In 2016 at the Biennale of Contemporary Art in Cannes,
France, held during the film festival, Serge received an award for his
expressive ideas and a few weeks later he was awareded the Colosseo Prize in
Rome. In 2017 Serge received
the Galileo Galilei Prize in Pisa, Italy.