Blackout Beauty

About Mathieu Questel

Mathieu Questel, born in Rouen (France) on the 18th of December, 1981. He has had a very unique journey into the art world. He started at “Le Havre art school", but quickly interrupted this curriculum to follow business studies which he thought had more potential.

But passion caught up to him as Mathieu has always been immersed in the world of art through his grandfather Jean Marc, an artist / painter who taught him the basics of drawing and painting. At the age of 18, a friend introduced him to the art of graffiti. During the following five years, he spent entire afternoons covering the walls of abandoned factories while discovering other artists sharing this common passion for art and aerosol. In parallel with his business studies, he self-taught computer graphics, designing logos and flyers for businesses as well as numerous musical events around Rouen.

These experiences showcased his versatility and directed his professional career towards event marketing. He started working for a famous Parisian night club and then transitioned to e-commerce in which he still works to this day.

Looking for a deeper artistic expression, he turned to digital painting, and began a series of portraits from the American pop culture that he released in digigra- phic printing on Canson paper thanks to the support from Epson, a leader in the imaging industry, which will sponsor and help to exhibit for the first time in different locations in Paris for 4 consecutive years.

The United States always had a great influence on Mathieu's work in the artistic field. Branded in the 90s by series, movies,, blockbusters, music, the heyday of skate culture, US sports, etc.; this culture has played a major role on his way of life that earned him the nickname « the American » among his friends.

It is around this axis that he will direct his new project « American Rebel Girls », at the cost of doing a 180 on his previous works. He turns this time to the rebel side of the young American women of the 80/90's he loves, working in acrylic on linen canvas on medium and large formats, he created a whole series of women from different states of the US by the expression of their posture, whether haughty, provocative, haggard, mysterious; defending their own ideas. A series with figurative style, grunge, unstructured, without rules, singular with a zest of abstract is how he defines his expression. Erasing their eyes to keep their anony- mity, he draws the eye on the posture and body language of each of these women caricature in his own way.