The Resident

What attracts you to capturing landscapes and views directly on location, rather than from a photo or memory?

For me, the main appeal of painting from a real subject is that it provides an excuse to take the time to go somewhere. It creates a setting that leads to a productive session conducive to creating images, much like organising a photo shoot. Part of what interests me is the act of painting itself as a performance. The result, the painting, then becomes the mark of my presence in a place.

In much of your work, nature plays a central role. Brussels is full of greenery but also abundant in grey. How do you perceive the tension between the urban elements and the natural environments of the city, and do you want to emphasise this in your work?

The structure of windows and straight angles in the landscapes of urban apartments creates highly stratified perspectives, almost like successive "layers." On the other hand, the organized greenery appears as a more rounded and less recognizable motif. I’d say that the encounter of the two is obviously interesting, but a landscape without nature is also an excellent challenge. It offers a unique graphic dynamic, where one must pay close attention to the shadows cast on the walls and objects in the painting. This profoundly influences my approach to painting, and I adjust my "frame" to what I’m representing, as if I were adjusting the focal length of a camera.

How do you perceive your relationship with Brussels as a city, and does it influence your artistic approach and the places you choose to paint?

I love coming back to Brussels. As you mentioned, it’s a city that blends greenery with grey. You can go out at any time, which is a rare quality for a city. The architecture here is a real playground: the local urban planning regulations haven’t always been followed in terms of unity, resulting in anomalies everywhere, which are interesting to discover and paint.

There’s also a constant flow of diverse people from different social classes and lifestyles – it’s incredibly rich to experience. In the creative scene, Brussels is a unique ecosystem in Europe, closely connected to other cities around the world – it’s a particularly stimulating place to work.

Personally, I chose to leave the big cities and live in the countryside in Provence, in the south of France. However, it’s essential for me to spend a few weeks each year in Brussels to stay connected to what’s happening in the world.

To what extent does the crowd and the dynamic atmosphere of a place influence your work? Do you find that you work faster or slower depending on the environment, noise, or the people around you?

I only paint in public. For me, it’s important that the painting process is shared, whether with loved ones or strangers. This leads to exchanges and photos... I view my studio as a relationship, rather than a traditional, demarcated space.

I do have a private space to be alone, read, reflect, and write – which I do regularly. But for painting, I prefer to be amongst others.

A landscape is difficult to tame, and the weather even more so. How do you cope with the challenges and surprises that plein air painting presents?

Haha, I just make do with it! I remember a few years ago, having to build a shelter with an umbrella or weigh down the easel to prevent it from blowing away. Nowadays, I adapt in a different way, which affects the position from which I paint. The hardest part for me is when there’s no direct sunlight: the shadows are softer, and it’s challenging to work under these conditions. So, I find workarounds or simply wait for the right moment. Patience is a virtue.

People have the opportunity to have seven specific places in Brussels and its surroundings captured by your hand. Do you find it important to know why they’ve chosen that location and how your painting process unfolds? Or is it more about capturing the magic of the place for them that motivates you?

What particularly moves me is the way people connect with places: their stories, memories, what they’ve experienced there, and why they love it. I find it important to grasp this, as it influences what I paint, depending on what I find most interesting to convey about the place.But I also see another layer in your question: there’s a certain beauty in working for someone who specifically requests a representation of a particular place. Of course, I also enjoy painting for others. What I love most is being in dialogue with other visions of the world than my own. That’s why I approach this profession in this way.