I paint images that I find in newspapers, magazines, the internet to even my mom’s shoe box where old, yellowed black and white family photos are kept. My paintings therefore often contain elements of photographs that already have a life behind them and bear the scars of time.
Sometimes I convert my analogue photos and give them a new lease of life using cyanography, a technique that fascinates me enormously. I then use these “new” images as the basis for my oil paintings. Hence the many shades of blue in my work, which gives me the opportunity to get to the essence of shadow and light, and thus give the images a certain softness and melancholy.
Sometimes my paintings contain a certain uneasiness but I always leave the possibility for the viewer to fill in part of the story himself.
I always make my paintings in oil paint.
Philippe Badert is without a doubt a thoroughbred or thoroughbred painter.
Badert seeks his inspiration in his everyday surroundings, in desolate cityscapes, with ordinary people in ordinary situations, often with a touch of nostalgia and with a certain mystique. As a source of inspiration, he uses existing photographic material from his youth, film stills, images from the Internet or from old magazines. The images that serve as a basis for his paintings often bear the scars of time.
He translates his impressions in a visually intriguing and personal way. He experiences the interpretation of his visual motives and subjects as a fascinating challenge. In his paintings, the aspect of space takes on a primordial role. His compositions are characterized by an architectural structure and a rather rigorous geometry.
In addition to the pronounced line perspective, he intensifies the suggestiveness of his images by using drop shadows, skimming light and image cut-offs that suggest a larger whole. He also applies these cut-offs in figurative representations.
Badert’s oeuvre does not allow itself to be inscribed in the effervescent vitality of the ‘urban realists’. He does not record dynamic, active snapshots, but creates images that leave a frozen or still impression. Philippe Badert is not an orthodox hyperrealist. His everyday shots depart from reality but never approach the coldness of photorealism. On his canvases there is sometimes an atmosphere of alienation, loneliness, and alienation. This arouses a sense of melancholy in the viewer. Not only the choice of subject but also the unusual colors determine the mood of his canvases. To achieve this result, it happens that he redevelops the photographs through a cyanographic process and then uses them as a basis for painting.
Philippe Badert is a tonality painter with a surprisingly rich color palette. In addition to neutral colors, he prefers a wide range of adulterated, mixed hues, which silently slip and merge into each other. For Philippe Badert, visual language is the tool of choice to capture those impressions, which cannot be captured in words.
Lieven Defour
Lieven Defour is a Belgian art historian and art critic. He writes about contemporary art and teaches at several Belgian art academies.
Painting – Kunstacademie aan Zee, Oostende
2021
16/10/2020-02/05/2021: Group exhibition – MinM Museum, Oostende (cancelled)
11/12/2020-10/01/20021: Salon des Artistes – Brugge
2021: ‘’Belgicart by curator Sam Dillemans – BOZAR, Brussel
15/05-31/12/2021: ‘Hallelujah!’ by Bart Ramakers and friends – Triamant, Bree
22/05/-06/06/2021: Art Ghent-Ronse – CC De Ververij, Ronse
02/07-05/09/2021: ‘It’s a miracle we ever met!’ – Stichting IJsberg, Damme
12/06-12/09/2021: Rerum Novarum, Lier
13/07-15/08/2021: De grote Ruutten, Oostende
23/07/2021-08/08/2021: Kasteel Fayard, Brugge
08/2021: Galerie Papillon, Oostende
01-03/10/2021: KeiArt – Chateau Fayard, Brugge
2020
2020: Group exhibition Air – Biekorf, Brugge
28/08-18/09/2020: Group exhibition Antichambre 2020 – Ensor
2020: Project ‘Behind the Glass’ – Jonas Vansteenkiste
07/07-20/09/2020: ‘Oooh verwondering’ group exhibition – Stichting IJsberg, Damme
26/09-04/10/2020: Group exhibition CAST 2020 – Kunst in Zottegem
09-10/2020: BAM festival des arts – La Roche
25/10-04/12/2020: Kop Op auction (Rode Neuzen Dag)
2019
2019: Group exhibition Air – Biekorf, Brugge
2019: Group exhibition ‘Sweet Seventy’ – CAS, Oostende
2019: Group exhibition – Square 42 Galerij, Oostende
2018
2018: Group exhibition – Plantentuin, Meise
2017
2017: Exhibition – Mercator, Oostende
2017: Exhibition ‘A la mer comme à la mer’ – Galerie Anmigo, Oostende
2017: Group exhibition – Lovendegem
2017: Group exhibition ‘Postcard from the edge’ – CAS, Oostende
2016
2016: Participation Duo – Mu.Zee, Oostende
2015
2015: Group exhibition – Fort Napoleon, Oostende
2015: Exhibition – N°75, Christinastraat, Oostende
2013
2013: Exhibition – Mercator, Oostende
2009
2009: Group exhibition – Zuivelfabriek, Blankenberge
2007
2007: Exhibition – Zoo, Antwerpen
Group exhibition – Box 38, Oostende
Kunstmagazine Nr. 8
Kunstmagazine Nr. 9
The Art Couch Kunstcahiers Zelfportretten
Catalog Air Biekorf 3.0
Catalog Air Biekorf 4.0
ABC Belgische kunstenaars 22
Kunstletters januari 22 – Mijn ritueel
2007: Winner contest Cartistic Vlaanderen
2017: Honorable mention Stan Raemdonck Award
2021: Finalist Belgicart
