An Impactful Conversation with Antoine Roegiers
Photo Credit : © Laurent Edeline
Born in 1980 in Belgium, Antoine Roegiers lives and works in Paris. He fuses his knowledge of classic painting with contemporary animation techniques. Putting technology and his talent for drawing to good use, he breathes life into fantastical characters typical of the Flemish masters, taking liberties with them and inventing stories that never stay still. Antoine graduated from the National School of Fine Arts of Paris with honors in 2007. His work has been shown in a range of solo exhibitions, including at the Noordbrabant Museum in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille, France, in 2012 and Botanique in Brussels in 2013. His art has also featured in numerous group exhibitions, including at the Frissiras Museum in Athens (2003), Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard in Paris (2009), Kulturhuset Museum in Stockholm (2012), Petit Palais in Paris (2013), Palais Pisztory in Slovakia (2013), Paço das Artes in Sao Paulo (2013), Albertina Museum in Vienna (2013), Contemporary Art Collection of the City of Geneva (2013), Bruce Museum in Greenwich, USA (2015), Palacio Bellas Artes and National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City (2018), Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (2019), Cité de la Musique Philharmonie in Paris (2021), MO.CO in Montpellier (2023), Château du Rivau in Lémeré, France (2024) and Wasserman Projects in Detroit, USA (2024).
He has received several awards for his artwork, including Molière for visual creation for the play “La Mouche.” Creation of Valérie Lesort and Christian Hecq, Yishu 8 prize, Residence in China, Beijing, Roger Bataille Foundation.
His works are held in various collections globally such as Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France Daniel and Florence Guerlain Contemporary Art Foundation, Paris, France, Me Collectors Room Berlin / Olbricht Foundation, Berlin, Germany Contemporary Art Fund of the City of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Mirabaud Collection, Geneva, Zurich, Paris, Luxembourg and Madrid Collections of the Ministry of the French Community of Belgium (Collection of the Plastic Arts Service), Belgium.
I enjoyed asking Antoine about his latest exhibition, The Great Parade, his use of profound flames when he decided to pursue an art career, and so much more.
UZOMAH: With its dramatic and poetic nature, your artwork conjures up unique universes that are dreamlike, humorous, and cinematic. What sets your inspiration apart from other artists?
ANTOINE: For several years, I created animated works. I used the animated film to explore in a personal way the painting of Bosch or Brueghel and then, little by little, my own universe. This work allowed me to develop narration, movement, humor, and a certain aesthetic. I was trying to get into the painting and give it a certain reality. This work is now part of me. Today, I am developing a pictorial narrative that arises from this animation work. I tell a story in painting. The paintings together tell one story, the same story.
ANTOINE ROEGIERS Le grand duc, 2024 Huile sur toile | Oil on canvas 162 × 130 × 3.5 cm — 63 3/4 × 51 1/4 × 1 1/2 in Courtoisie de l'artiste et Templon, Paris – Bruxelles - New York | Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels -New York Photo © Isabelle Arthuis
U: What key elements should every artist follow to find their artistic statement throughout their work?
A: I can only speak for myself. I don't think there's just one way to do it. From my experience, you should not follow trends. Work from your own obsessions, listen to your desires and your instinct. Pleasure seems to me as essential as creativity, which is difficult to preserve intact throughout its journey. You must succeed at all costs in keeping your freedom.
U: Can you talk about what "failing toward success” means to you?
A: You have to fail to succeed. Painting is also a good school. The process of creating a painting is not a long and quiet flow. There are many difficulties and failures to overcome before getting a work completed. Sometimes you have to agree to destroy in order to rebuild better.
For several months, I had a period of doubt and artistic questioning. This moment allowed me to better rethink my work and my relationship with the art market. Failures make us grow and teach us more about ourselves than successes.
U: Since 2018, you have been on a journey of self-reflection and growth, working on a 'visual narrative' project. This series of paintings tells a single story over several years. What has been the most significant lesson you've learned in this artistic journey?
A: I would say that what I learned was to stop thinking that there must be everything in one single painting. In reality, a painting is part of a body of works that evolves. Sometimes I know that one work will be important and another one less so, but if I decide to do this or that painting, it is because I have to do it. I put the notion of desire and pleasure forward.
ANTOINE ROEGIERS Les fanfarons, 2024 Huile sur toile | Oil on canvas 130 × 162 cm — 51 1/4 × 63 3/4 in Courtoisie de l'artiste et Templon, Paris – Bruxelles - New York | Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels - New York Photo © Laurent Edeline
U: What is the hardest part of creating a painting?
A: The most difficult are the doubts that one may have about the subject of a painting and whether it is possible to achieve it. Why make this painting when there have already been so many done by extremely talented painters?
Also painting is a repetitive process. There are certain steps I have to go through to get there. I am always surprised to rediscover the act of painting when I have just finished a painting and am starting another.
I always end up forgetting the process.
ANTOINE ROEGIERS De l'autre rive, 2024 Huile sur toile | Oil on canvas 160 × 200 cm — 63 × 78 3/4 in Courtoisie de l'artiste et Templon, Paris – Bruxelles - New York | Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels - New York Photo © Laurent Edeline
U: Why is art influential to you?
A: Art influences me because I couldn’t live without it. Art consoles me, fills me, and reassures me.
U: This chapter of your ongoing visual narrative reintroduces people to your story, where you express your own despair at the madness of society and the helplessness that often challenges society. What other societal issues do you want viewers to consider and question about themselves? Can you describe your artistic aesthetic?
A: I would like people to be able to feel their emotions in the face of the world and to be able to laugh or console themselves about it.
This series is only a reflection of the world around me through my own prism. The work once hung on the wall no longer belongs to me. I know why I made them but the paintings then belong to the viewer. I open a window in which the viewer must find what he wants and can see. I am not interested in imposing my point of view. My work is in no way moralistic.
My work has a classic aesthetic but is totally contemporary. It is in a tradition of northern painters such as Brueghel or Ensor and also in certain aspects in the tradition of the romantic movement.
U: How has your exhibition, "The Great Parade," furthered your exploration of the arts and art History?
A: The big parade allowed me to wander through different currents of art history but above all allowed me to open up even more about what I feel deep inside.
U: How does your art embrace stories that are not welcomed and also not discussed? How does art help you confront them and might help others?
A: This exhibition can be anxiety-provoking for some because it is a reflection of our world which is very distressing. But at the same time, it is allegorical and poetic. It allows you to escape and take a step back. There is anguish, poetry, beauty and humor.
ANTOINE ROEGIERS Le fossé, 2024 Huile sur toile | Oil on canvas 130 × 162 cm — 51 1/4 × 63 3/4 in Courtoisie de l'artiste et Templon, Paris – Bruxelles - New York | Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels - New York Photo © Laurent Edeline
U: Your use of flames is profound and a gentle reminder of the power of fire visually. Can you discuss the importance of using fire in your artwork?
A: Fire is a strong image of the state of the world. The spectator is struck by the sensations this produces within him. It is as terrifying as it is attractive and even hypnotic. Fire in painting amounts to magic when it is successful.
ANTOINE ROEGIERS L'arrivée en fanfare, 2024 Huile sur toile | Oil on canvas 130 × 162 cm — 51 1/4 × 63 3/4 in Courtoisie de l'artiste et Templon, Paris – Bruxelles - New York | Courtesy of the artist and Templon, Paris – Brussels - New York Photo © Laurent Edeline
U: Why did you decide to pursue art as a career? What has been most rewarding about that decision being made?
A: I knew since I was 3 years old that I wanted to be a designer. I did everything to get there. But my desire to become a painter arrived around my 20s. I am so happy to get up in the morning to do what I love. It is an extraordinary opportunity.
For more information about Antoine and his current exhibition, please visit the Templon Gallery’s site here. The magazine also did a feature on his exhibition, which can be found here.
