Kid Cudi’s career—as an artist who can’t be contained by the label “rapper”—has always moved sideways: emotional, often inward-looking. Today, that journey opens up to painting as well.

This is how Scott Ramon is born: the artist’s visual alter ego, ready to make his debut with his first solo show.

After presenting his artist documentary at Art Basel Miami Beach last month, Kid Cudi lands in Paris, in the 3rd arrondissement, for Echoes of the Past, on view from January 31 to March 1 at Ruttkowski;68. Ten canvas works form a tight, cohesive body that introduces Ramon’s painterly language: crisp geometries, vibrant colors, figures suspended between innocence and unease. As Amy Verner writes in the curatorial text, the works feed on “juxtapositions of sadness and happiness,” suggesting not so much self-portraits as attempts to build a stronger self.

Ramon began painting about a year ago, reactivating a childhood dream: becoming a cartoonist. Max appears throughout the canvases—a character-as-alter-ego and an embodiment of the artist’s inner child. Through him, painting becomes a tool for processing, in dialogue with the “demons” already confronted in his autobiography—which features one of his paintings on the cover—and with Free, the 2025 album dedicated to resilience.

The exhibition extends into sound, too. For the occasion, Ramon will present a new ten-minute soundscape: a synthetic, atmospheric environment designed to accompany the works. Echoes of the Past isn’t a detour, but a coherent chapter that translates Kid Cudi’s expressive urgency into images—confirming that the medium can change, but the search remains the same.

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