Antoine Roegiers France, b. 1980

Generations and the passing on of inspiration between them is a recurrent theme throughout Antoine Roegiers’ work. Every aspect of his work has an autobiographical element to it. His father was his first true mentor since it was because of him that he first discovered art. It wasn’t until studying painting at the École des Beaux Arts however, that he got in touch with the Old Masters. He did not solely admire them for their technique, but also questioned their significance in the contemporary art scene and the current generation in general. How come nearly everyone’s first encounter with art was one with a Rubens or Breughel painting? But most of all, why do a lot of spectators stop looking at them? By being constantly confronted with the works of these Old Masters during his art education, it felt sacrilegious even attempting to paint in the same style. Roegiers decided to use this age-old generation-gap and to translate it for a new audience. An audience to which his own son now belongs, turning Roegiers into a mentor for someone else’s life. He has now become the guide he always needed

Video is another fundamental element in his work. As a true pioneer he uses the medium in a very meticulous way. His first animated painting, L’académie (2005), was a 2’15” long clip  inspired by a small painting, Paysans,  by the painter’s trio Le Nain from the Louvre where he often went. This gave him the idea to surprise the spectator by letting added figures move in existing scenes. The mystery was born. Every video-piece is a sequence of handmade drawings, like his Paysages Vides (après Breughel), which are deserted Breughel landscapes. This work is yet another way of showing the Old Masters to a new audience through a contemporary story.