Looking at Simon Demeuter variable artworks is like entering into an alternate reality; his distinctive painting style and his intriguing characters collide into the same painterly image intersecting complex qualities, reactions and feelings. Mainly male silhouettes dominate his polychromatic canvases enhancing the viewer’s curiosity about the painter’s creative intentions. His context usually relies on photos that inspires him and painterly motivate his fantasy in order to develop and complete his painting result. Demeuter incites some remarkable vague attributes within a figurative imagery which simultaneously leaves significant room for subjectivity. For example, in his compositions, Demeuter dives into figuration using significant codes of simplicity in lines and forms. In his paintings, although the figurative attributes such as faces, silhouettes, objects remain evident and strong, the wider story establishes a colourful indefinite background landscape where his portraiture’s presence eventually unveil a more dynamic visual language through fluid colour and painting techniques.

Words: Yannis Kostarias

Mystery is also another significant element that is  predominantly conveyed through his painting stories; although the painter concentrates on facial and bodily male characteristics, his work underline a more vague and open-hearted language about his silhouettes’ masculinity. Rather than sticking on more fixed stereotypes of gender expressions, his figures manage to reveal a sort of smooth voluptuousness emphasizing a painterly rhythm in his curved and attractive male forms and shapes. Even if female figures do not clearly exist in his paintings, more feminized elements are alternatively incorporated on his canvases. The visual interplay for the viewers’ eyes seeks a further interpretation, while the artist’s intention is not meant to build some firm male compositions but rather open up a broader dialogue on masculinity and its various shades.

Demeuter constructs a vivid painting dipole between his figurative characters and a polychromatic environment behind them. For example, “À l’Ombre des Arbres” two men have turned their back holding a few small balls; in this male duo representation ,the artist seemingly depict them standing and static, whereas having a closer look at his protagonists’s cowbow-like shoes, a sort of smooth motion is revealed in the air while demonstrating a kind of an unseen movement. Repetitive motifs such as hats and balls make their presence felt rendering an additional motion in the final painting result. The plain burgundy colour background provides a remarkable contrast with the upper yellowish part of his canvas.

Demeuter flirts with more imaginative forms and shapes by playing with the concept of simplicity. Highlighting a distinctive outline on this portraiture, the artist chooses to execute their body structure plain, more enigmatic and less austere. Their body language seems purposefully silent and unpredictable. More pale nuances of his colour palette are in a striking contrast with more vibrant colours such as fluorescent yellow, pink, orange and blue. The paintings’ chromatic background always aims to boost the frontal figurative arrangements creating important boundaries within the same painting landscape. Additionally, the style of the plain background iconography, which is in contrast with the fully-pledged representation of the human figures, signifies the artist’s vibrant paintings effects and broader imagery aesthetics.

Can you tell us about the process of making your work?

The starting point is often an emotion that I feel in the moment or the trace it has left inside me. I try to translate this trace into my painting. I look at a lot of books and photos. A photograph is often the start of a first painting. Then the others come quite naturally. I draw a lot before moving onto the canvas. This is the longest process. I am entering a stage of simplification of the forms and the subject that I choose. I try to find the simplest line and keep the spirit and energy of the sketch in the painting. When I go over the painting it goes quite quickly. I often have one color as a starting point and the others come naturally. I also listen to a lot of music at the studio. It carries me.

How would you define your work in a few words (ideally in 3 words)?

Color, emotions, traces.

You are currently presenting your new solo exhibition, “À l’ombre des arbres”, at Bim Bam Gallery in Paris; what sort of new artworks do you showcase at this exhibition?

The starting point of this series is one of my favorite paintings by the artist Henri Matisse “Les Joueurs de Boules”. It is the trace and the emotion left by this painting that I try to translate into these works. I find that it gives off a feeling of purity mixed with a form of serenity. The series consists of pétanque players and still lifes. By observing photographs, I tried to capture the gestures of the players and reduce them to the essentials. The color palette evokes the different times of the sun during the day. The portraits are punctuated with small paintings evoking pétanque balls, where I have fun with the random compositions. I had just read Laure Adler’s interview with Etel Adnan “The Beauty of Light”. She is an artist that I adore and I wanted to pay her an absolutely undisguised tribute.

There are also some paintings depicting Casanis jugs. A pastis from Marseille. There I use the power of the object to evoke moments of sharing. I wanted to invite spectators to appreciate the richness of life’s simple moments, to celebrate the strength of human bonds and to marvel at the discreet magic of everyday life.
These paintings are a tribute to the light and beauty of the present moment. I see them as a trace of a summer memory.

Could you share with us some insights on your painting “Charbon” (2023)? Is there any particular story behind this new work?

The « Charbon » series draws its inspiration from the landscapes of my childhood, rooted in the south of Belgium, a region marked by a rich mining past. This industry has profoundly shaped the environment where I grew up. Memories come alive at the evocation of this black earth, where games with the scouts on the slag heaps were my daily life. Today, these mounds are transformed, covered in greenery where wild life flourishes. They symbolize the marks left by man on nature.

Through this series, I wish to pay tribute to these men and women, often immigrants, who came to seek a better life in Belgium. “Charbon” presents portraits of miners on a deep blue background, lit as if in the darkness of a gallery. Their features are deliberately simplified, evoking sketches. This stripped-down aesthetic, which I seek more and more in my painting, magnifies the figures and decorations through flat areas of bright colors. These are idealized representations, populated by bodies and characters, soft and robust, wearing helmets. I try to bring out, to extract, hidden beauties.

Would it be somehow right to mention that you concentrate on depicting male characters on your canvases? Does this point of view apply to your artistry, or gender issues have nothing to do with your work in general?

Yes it’s true but it came without me thinking about it. I have already worked on several figures which are symbols of “virility” such as the cowboy or the gladiators. There is an element of sensuality and femininity in my characters and in their attitudes. I like to eroticize them and take away a little of their masculine armor. I find it more touching than the muscles. There are many forms of masculinity. It is important to continue to deconstruct them because the old images of virility are still the ones that dominate public space.

Looking at your polychromatic paintings, it seems that you are applying a particular range of colours on your canvases. For instance, bright yellow, pink or blue are some basic pale colour components in your newest body of work; which are (roughly) the right conditions that lead you to choose the right colour combinations on each painting?

There are several things. Firstly I had a color study course during my studies at La Cambre in Brussels. At the time I didn’t find it very exciting but afterwards I understood that it had trained my eye to understand how they react together. And it taught me something very important which is that a color never exists alone. This is where my ability to associate colors comes from.

Then there is the notion of pleasure which is very important to me. When I see fluorescent paints I just can’t resist using them. Color brings me pleasure. It’s a joy to watch her. It’s a good constraint to absolutely want to use a yellow or a blue. I like the exercise of having to match my other colors to the first one.

And ultimately for me it is a vector of feeling. We can evoke so many things through color. I remember a series of Sunflowers “One day in the life of a sad boy” that I made in 2021. I tried to talk about the depression I was going through at that time. The sunflower starts the day with its head down and rises with the sunlight before lowering itself. For me, they were this symbol of the lows and highs that we go through in these moments. I think we can talk about sadness with bright yellow as much as happiness with dark blue. It is their existence together and in space that brings a feeling.

The depiction of small balls is another significant motif in your imagery; Is there something that fascinates you in these repetitive element? Hats are also another good example.

The repetition of a pattern brings surprises I think. The more we tire it, the more we will deconstruct it. I often see it between the first painting in a series and the last. I haven’t pushed the ball figure yet. I used it more to evoke the group and the idea of “together” in the series “À l’Ombre des Arbres”. Hats are something else. It’s a motif that has come back since the beginning of my painting. I like the object and its presence. Its form evolved with my painting and it will evolve further. The first were flat areas of color, then the shadows came and today they are closer to the sketch. These patterns can become the symbol of what I was at one time and they will change again, that’s for sure.

For several years there has been a desire for an artist to be ultra recognizable at first glance. I think it’s dangerous and it’s important to stay open to change in your work. To keep a freedom.

Can you mention any artists you, lately or generally, take inspiration from?

I’m a big fan of Matisse. But in general I would say all the artists who have explored and who explore color. Francis Bacon, Munch, David Hockney, Alice Neel… Or artists who explored the simplification of forms like Brancusi. There are so many artists that I admire. Among the contemporaries I can say Julien Meert, Jean Baptiste Bernadet, Ethan Cook or Alex Foxton.

What about the place where you work? What’s your studio space look like?

I live and work in Paris since two years now. I had a residency at “Villa Belleville” and afterwards I wanted to stay. I was at a point in my life where I wanted to change places and meet new people. I lived in Brussels for eleven years. I love this city. It’s very comfortable and it has a village feel to a capital which is very pleasant but I needed a change. I felt like I had done the trick. Being in Paris is very inspiring. There are so many things to see and discover. It wasn’t easy to find a studio. It’s not very big but it’s my own space which is rare in Paris. I need to be alone when I work. Otherwise I would say that it is warm and tidy. I can’t work out of order. I need to see things and know where they are. One of the walls is covered with photos and exhibition cards that inspire me.

Which are your plans for the near future?

I’m going to start a new collaboration with a Gallery in Copenhagen but I can’t say too much for the moment.

All images courtesy of the artist