AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
ANTOINE CORDET
Gold List Award artist. Antonie Cordet. Ultra Maryland, 2016. Acrylic on canvas, 76x130cm An Exclusive Interview on Art Market Magazine.
Gold List Award artist. An Exclusive Interview on Art Market Magazine.
A keen observer, the French artist Antoine Cordet leads us to discover a world of his own, both hard and tender, warm and cold.
Self-taught, it was first and foremost street art that made him take his first steps in art as a teenager, which naturally led him to painting on canvas and to make the decision, after a brief study in architecture, to become a full-time painter. He locked himself in his studio for two years and ended up being noticed by two galleries, one in Germany and the other in the United States, with whom he has been working since.
The artist’s techniques evolve between the search for matter and light touches, revealing realistic subjects underlined by an abstraction that presents the portrait as a liberation. Allowing the neutrality of his figures to emerge, they express themselves through an emotion reduced to a minimum.
Antoine Cordet’s portraits are delivered as spontaneous and elusive apparitions that seem frozen in emotional and sexual neutrality. A perpetuated intuition that is accentuated by the paleness of the colors used, almost transparent, which exposes an escape of identity. Passivity and contemplation are the words that come to mind when you see Antoine Cordet’s portraits. As a viewer, you feel touched by the bare intimacy which seems to be an invitation to devolve into the introverted state of the matter. Our flaws and our fears come to the surface and raise questions about how to understand this world, how to adapt and how to participate fully in its evolution when we feel withdrawn, but nevertheless… human. Cordet lives and works in Paris, and exhibits internationally.
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
ANTOINE CORDET
Gold List Award artist. To Tame The Concrete, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 116x89cm An Exclusive Interview on Art Market Magazine.
Art Market: Dear Antoine, it’s a pleasure to have this interview with you. Can we start at the very beginning? Where did you grow up and what were some early milestones or experiences that contributed to your process of becoming an artist?
Antoine Cordet: I was born in a small town by southern Paris. When I was 13 years old I met a friend who introduced me to graffiti, so I started drawing on paper, and later on, on walls. I then moved away from graffiti to different street art projects such as collages or street furniture transformation before moving on to painting on canvas. First I did abstract work, then I gradually started to work on figurative art to reach the portrait now. During all this time, it was a hobby, but after leaving my studies in architecture I decided to become a full-time artist. I locked myself in my studio for two years working and experimenting until a gallery contacted me and wanted to represent my work.
Art Market: When describing your art, Robert Fontaine, The director of FONTAINE EDITIONS and Robert Fontaine Gallery, said that “the paintings hold ghostly hints of a romantic past, exquisitely repackaged and visually anew”. How would you describe your style? Is your work influenced by any specific artists?
Antoine Cordet: I think that my paintings are the result of all my life experiences and what I have kept of them. I don’t refer to any particular style of painting, but rather draw inspiration from the things that surround me, like fashion, books, music, whatever can be seen on the Internet. I try to take the elements that interest me if I feel that it can help me and increase my angle of approach.
Of course, I keep looking at what has been done before in terms of painting, but I have to digest it and to transcribe it with the codes of our time. To mention just one name, I’d say I appreciate the work of the Flemish baroque artist Anton van Dyck. I also look a lot at the work of current artists, what is being done now and how a painting is progressing day after day.
Gold List Award Artist Antonie Cordet. My Delicate Punch, 2019. Acrylic & oil on canvas, 46x38cm Exclusive Interview on Art Market Magazine.
Art Market: You mainly focus on romantic figures, frozen in emotional and sexual neutrality. Tell us about your workflow, your techniques, and your materials. Are you satisfied with the expression of emotions presented in the final result of your creations?
Antoine Cordet: First and foremost, I have to find a subject for my work; that can be a friend or someone I met on the street. I take photos of them and paint them on canvas with acrylic and oil.
I always begin by the clothes and gradually climb up to end up with the hair, it’s like a ritual. During this process, I try to combine the thickness with the thinness of the paint layers, and precision with spontaneous touches.
I want to paint people who have a certain neutrality in their posture and face. A certain classicism in their features that exposes a fragility, but at the same time, a hidden force that we feel is ready to jump. I know at first glance whether the person is what I am looking for or not.
I want my subjects to be neutral in terms of expression and sexuality because I want to put them on the same level without accentuating their differences. The passivity of faces reflects an inability to fully understand the world in which they live, they are overwhelmed by what they see or hear and this pushes them to feel nothing more than indifference and resignation. Gender neutrality erases prejudices, I never paint women’s breasts, and men look a little androgynous. Finally, they no longer belong to the female or male gender, the boundaries are blurred. Men and women are recognizable by their hairstyle or facial composition, but I try to make them equal at best. Resignation, consternation and the disappearance of gender are a form of withdrawal from the world; they no longer want to be visible, they have taken a step aside because they do not want to participate in what is happening around them.
Gold List Award Artist Antonie Cordet. On The Ash Beach. Acrylic on canvas. 116×89 cm. 2018 Exclusive Interview on Art Market Magazine.
Art Market: As I understand, you are represented by Robert Fontaine Gallery in Miami and by Galerie Flash in Munich. What were some major developments and key moments in your career as an artist in recent years?
Antoine Cordet: Since Galerie Flash contacted me to represent my work 5 years ago, many things have changed. My paintings have become visible in art fairs and solo exhibitions; they can be seen in many locations other than online.
A few months later I also started working with Robert Fontaine Gallery in Miami, and I can say that having two galleries representing me – one in Germany and one in the United States, allows me to be present on two continents and thus to reach more people, allowing them to have direct contact with my work. It also allows me to meet and talk with collectors, to know their point of view and how they perceive my work. About what the future withholds for me – I have to keep working and other projects will come up.
Website: antoinecordet.com
email: hello@antoinecordet.com
Instagram: @___antoinecordet
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