Antoine Roegiers is a Belgian-born painter who lives and works in Paris. In his work, Roegiers enters into the great history of figurative painting. He creates works that evoke the narrative or genre scenes of the Flemish and Dutch Old Masters, in a similar vein to the apocalyptic visions of Hieronymus Bosch or the moralising paintings of Brueghel the Elder. Within this traditional aesthetic, his work reflects contemporary fears and concerns, namely the climate crisis and the global pandemic.
Roegiers' highly detailed paintings draw the viewer into a fantastical and strange world, rich in symbolism, which have a timeless quality whilst appearing undeniably contemporary. This is captured strikingly in his animated video works, unique objects that combine the artist's distinguished painterly skills with his interest in 21st century technologies.
'The Pink Mask' is part of the ongoing series, 'In the Shadow of the Clouds', described by the artist as 'a pictorial narration': creating an imagined, quasi-apocalyptic world which can be seen as an allegory for preoccupations of contemporary society, namely the climate crisis and political instability. The tale told through this series unfolds in each painting, following two characters who wake up in the aftermath of a big carnival to find that the world is devoid of humans. Journeying through an unsettling landscape, they encounter fantastical figures and situations rich in symbolism, such as a skeleton collecting carnival masks, a strange aircraft, and a devastating storm which causes huge wildfires.
In 'The Pink Mask', a lone dog, an ally of the humans, seeks to rescue the last remaining masks, discarded after carnival, for their masters. A murder of crows, meanwhile, also hunts these masks to hoard for themselves, an allegory for the tussle of good and evil, of altruism and selfishness. This painting shows the resigned disappointment of the dog in contrast with the crazed energy of the group of crows, set amidst the smoke haze from the fires which have devastated much of the landscape.
This painting reveals just one corner of the world that the artist shows us in this series. Although created by him, Roegiers explains that the series is open for interpretation and non-linear; he does not intend for each painting to be considered in a strictly chronological way, emphasising instead that this world – like ours – is unpredictable and flexible, that each painting is an opportunity for discovery for each viewer.
Antoine Roegiers was born in Belgium in 1980. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, from which he graduated with honors in 2007 and received the Roger Bataille Foundation Prize. In 2012, he received the Yishu 8 prize, which allowed him to complete a three-month residency in Beijing. Roegiers' practice combines drawing, painting and video art in highly detailed works that reflect his study and admiration of ancient painters, particularly those of the Flemish and Dutch schools. In his work, Roegiers infuses the ancient tradition of figurative painting with contemporary sensibilities and technologies.
He has held solo exhibitions across Europe, including France, Belgium, Switzerland, China and the United States, and his works are regularly featured in group exhibitions and art fairs.
