Vieux Thierry | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Vieux Thierry

France
Painter

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The starting point, the city, the street. As a support for my compositions, I recreate an atmosphere on the canvas, a "street" patina.

Inspired by an artist father, Thierry was interested from a very early age in drawing and painting. He studied fine arts at the University of Aix-enProvence where he struck up a friendship with a Brazilian professor who gave him his first exhibition in Sao Polo. Having left initially for only 3 months, Thierry ended up staying in Brazil 8 years, and became the leading portraitist of the Brazilian middle class. His career as a professional painter began with commissions for paintings in a classical style. This experience was his first approach as a portraitist. Thierry immersed himself in the atmosphere of the cosmopolitan city: graffitifilled walls, torn posters, the wear of time and the patina of storms. The artist searched for this street ambience and glorified it on canvas. Thierry's paintings are pieces of this life to be hung on the wall.

Back in France, he employs the embossing techniques used in the past for old-fashioned ads. Using a selection of superimposed pieces, the artist assembles them as the base for his work. Once this base is dry and ready, Thierry begins painting and drawing characters in grey and black monochrome. Black acrylic for the drawing gives an effect reminiscent of comic strips through its contrast with the coloured base. The inspiration for characters or portraits comes from magazines, photos taken in the city, film actors or people that he knows. He then applies layers of tinted varnish, finishing with a last layer of glossy varnish that enhances the desired effects. Thierry’s influences are resolutely those of Pop Art. Other than Andy Warhol, artists such as Larry Rivers or Jim Dine inspire the artist.