Antoine Roegiers: Tentations

Antoine Roegiers’ characteristic technique of the past few years was inspired by the classic Old Masters: Peter Paul Rubens, Pieter Breughel, Hieronymus Bosch and Guido Reni. Roegiers sees them as his artistic fathers and lets himself be guided by the works of his deceased mentors. He takes details from the grand but at times grandiose paintings of Rubens and reformulates them into new, autonomous compositions which seem to be in full movement. Contemporary painting in the 21st century allows for this transformation of well-known paintings from a bygone era in accordance with a new and contemporary vision and thus for a new generation.

In this exhibition, Tentations, Antoine Roegiers shows paintings from this theme, made between 2014 and 2017. Because he was born in Belgium, but lives and works in Paris, this exhibition feels like coming home to him. Not just in the land were he was born, but also in the city of his greatest inspiration, Rubens: Antwerp. To be able to bring this exhibition in the Year of the Baroque with the subheading Rubens Inspires, completes the whole story. The black and white painting Le Cri shows the image of his father as a little boy. In the video that accompanies this work we see and hear how the cry comes from a very deep place, where fear, powerlessness and rage are hiding in the little boy. it is the story of a boy who moves abroad and feels displaced. In addition to this series of paintings, Roegiers shows 7 drawings from the Paysage Vides (après Breughel) together with video installations of the drawings (Collection Foundation Louis-Vuitton Paris). The removal of characters in the landscapes of Breughel, and drawing these empty landscapes in ink on a reduced scale, makes them hardly recognisable. He’s showing us how they become completely different works in doing so.

Kathy De Nève, 2018.