French artist see his World Cup poster as a love letter to L.A.

For Thieb Delaporte-Richard, the Parisian café from a distance from his house in Santa Monica was the best place for a conversation early in the morning.

In line, the aroma of the cooking croissants swept, and the buzzing of espresso machines reappeared the skeletal remains of an old church that now houses coffee.

“This kind of meaning at home, to be honest, and I think that is the reason why I like this place,” said Delaporte-Richard about Cafe and Santa Monica.

Born in Strasbourg, in France, Delaporte -Richard spent much of his childhood bounced – from eastern France to Paris via French Guyana to South America – never living in the same place for more than a few years and never knowing how to answer when he asked which place he really called home.

“Each city, everywhere, you can see the sunset. But here, it’s so unique – without clouds or colors, ”explains the French artist Thieb Delaporte -Richard. “For any reason, I feel like I only see these colors here.”

(Reception committee of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026)

He finally returned to Paris to frequent the Gobelins design school. During his stay, he had the opportunity to go to the United States for a three -month internship in Santa Monica – his first taste of the city by the sea, where he said that he “had this vision of Hollywood, palm trees, sunset” and wanted to have “the Californian experience”.

A decade later, Delaporte-Richard, 30, would not want to be nowhere else. Every day, it is always attracted by the santa monica pier, the Pacific Coast Highway, the mountains of Santa Monica and the sunsets by the sea emblematic.

“Each city, everywhere, you can see the sunset,” he said. “But here, it’s so unique – without clouds or colors. For any reason, I have the impression of not seeing these colors here. The way she bounces – it’s so red downstairs, so you see shades of orange, purple then blue, nothing to hide it. It makes him so unique.”

In a year, when teams and fans arrive in Los Angeles for the 2026 World Cup – with Los Angeles which organizes opening matches and quarter -finals at the Sofi stadium – the interpretation by Delaporte -Richard of this sunset will cover southern California. From walls to display panels to screens, the striking visual will serve as a focal point of the Los Angeles official poster for the tournament.

Delaporte-Richard resistance part.

Like many in the County of Los Angeles, Delaporte-Richard is a transplant attracted in the region in search of a dream. For him, this dream is art, and the region of the region welcomed it. His poster centered on Los Angeles is a love letter to the place he loves.

“My story is there,” said Delaporte-Richard. “By moving here, I realized how deep it is – how is it also all the stories that people told me. It really changed my vision and made me realize that it was much more than I thought. When I moved here, it was just supposed to be for a short period. And I realized, well, I love this place.”

Delaporte -Richard did not want his poster to be just a monuments or symbol control list – his initial instinct was to include all aspects of the city. But once he deleted this idea, he focused on subtlety: a meticulous balance between representation and photograph, aimed at capturing an authentic sensation of the.

He settled on the concept of a footballer of silhouetted in the middle of the shot – a composite inspired by countless moments of goal notation, including one by his childhood hero, Ronaldinho – launching a left foot against the setting sun above the horizon of the city center. The city’s signature palm trees stand up, while Easter eggs like the scanning projectors of a Hollywood first reveal themselves on a second glance. The player’s outline remains ambiguous enough to let viewers imagine their favorite star in the scene.

“Many people have contacted to me:” Oh, it really captures the spirit of Los Angeles “, said Delaporte-Richard. “There is nothing more significant for me than people who have lived here all their lives, for generations, telling me that it looks like the house. A poster like this is not only a marketing visual. For me, it’s a piece of culture. That’s part of the story. ”

The chance to present your art, however, has almost escaped. Delaporte-Richard learned the competition near the deadline for submission. Pressed by time, he gathered a storyboard in a few hours in his apartment. In the coming days, he feverishly sketched and painted the room. At the end of the week, he finished the project and submitted it with only two hours to lose.

“I knew that I would not have much time,” said Delaporte-Richard, browsing his black notebook filled with original sketches and conceptual art explaining its objective of capturing energy and the movement of football. “I looked for an idea that would work and created this link between football and Los Angeles.”

When Delaporte-Richard hit his submission, he didn’t know what to expect. At first, everything he received was an automated message thanking him and stressing that more than 900 people had entered the poster competition.

Then came the waiting game. In December, he was informed that he was one of the 16 finalists whose work was evaluated by five experts from the County of Los Angeles in public art and cultural exhibitions. Several months later, Jason Krutzsch of Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission contacted a message.

“I received an email that said:” Congratulations, your poster was selected “,” said Delaporte-Richard. “I had to send an email just asking:” Is it for real? ” Is it literal? Don’t you like? And he said to me: “I died serious”. »»

It took a phone call for it to finally strike Delaporte -Richard – he won. It was a great moment that he shared with his wife, who moved to California with him from France, and with friends and family at the house in Paris.

For the first time, the Delaporte -Richard, an introverted in a soft voice, found himself under the spotlight, with his first major project now available for the world to buy – an unknown territory for him. Initially, the release of the poster left it anxious, uncertain in the way people would react.

Would they like this? Would they hate him? The weight was heavier due to the depth of the project.

Delaporte-Richard’s decision to participate in the competition comes from a love for the life of football that started in his youth in France, where he learned to kick a ball. For him, the Brazilian legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, the Argentine star Lionel Messi and the French hero Zinedine Zidane were magicians devoted to their profession, inspiring Delaporte-Richard to follow his way.

When he was 16, his first creations were football banners and photoshopped graphics. A chance to celebrate football has triggered your love of art.

Having never been in the World Cup, Delaporte-Richard says that it is an honor that his work is part of the games. He plans to attend matches at the Sofi stadium, the place he went through months ago when his work was presented for the first time by the host committee of the World Cup.

“If you ask the person who has entered the design, creating football banners, about the World Cup poster, 15 years later, I would not believe it,” said Delaporte-Richard. “I wouldn’t believe it at all. So this experience in Los Angeles and the United States has made it a reality. ”