BIOGRAPHY

 

Born in Paris in 1968 to a French nuclear engineer and a Belgian diplomat, I didn't have time to become a Parisian because three weeks later I flew with my parents to Pakistan, where I lived for the first two years of my life. Then, back to Europe for two years and then another departure for Asia; this time, it was Japan. From my four years in Tokyo, I have wonderful memories. To the little boy I was, the megalopolis had a magical appearance with its tangle of ultra-bright neon advertising and its flowery parks adorned with temples and bridges of a deep red. At the age of nine, I left for Brazil. There, I was captivated by the modern architecture of the beautiful neighborhoods, the lush vegetation, and the warmth of the Brazilians. On the other hand, I was confronted for the first time in my life with extreme poverty and crime. It was in Brazil that my passion for drawing was born, preferring it to football. My artistic abilities were confirmed one day by a disconcerting event. When I was twelve years old, I had a drawing class at school for the first time in my life. At the end of the first lesson, the teacher gave us an assignment: to draw a self-portrait at home, in order to assess the level of his students. For once, the assignment was fun, and I applied myself as best I could. A few days later, when the homework was being marked, all the students received between 10/20 and 18/20; for my part, I had received a 0/20! "But why?" I protested, "is my portrait so bad?" The teacher replied curtly: "It's because you cheated! A boy your age can't have drawn that! It was an adult who drew your portrait!" My parents didn't care about this bad grade in drawing. However, I never had the time to prove to my drawing teacher at the French high school in Rio that I was indeed the author of the self-portrait, because shortly after this event, I moved to another country.

I discovered painting when my mother gave me a box of gouache when I was twenty. She said: "Take it and do what you want with it, I don't use it anymore." To thank her, I painted a portrait of my father. Since then, I haven't put down my brushes. My inclination towards the figurative and my interest in human beings led me to perfect myself in the art of portraiture. To train, I attended an academy in Brussels, then advanced courses at the Vlamish Classical Atelier in Bruges as well as those at the Classical Academy of Art in Florence. In 2011, I won the 1st Prize for Painting at the International Portrait Salon in Beauregard with my portrait "Le Majaradja". 

My childhood spent in the four corners of the world has forged in me an impermanent identity that is reflected in the multiculturalism and heterocliteracy of my works.  I have also made my own this phrase from Eugène Delacroix: "the first merit of a painting is to be a feast for the eye."

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