Antoine Marquet...
The Painter
By Louis Perez y Cid
Our friend Antoine is well-known in our Legion community for the remarkable quality of his writing. But few know that he also possesses a real talent as a draftsman and painter.
A vision behind his paintings.
Antoine's paintings have a true personality. They are not decorative exercises or copies of Lisbon postcards. There is a vision behind them.
The first thing that strikes you is the tension between order and fragmentation. The city is constructed with almost military precision, clean volumes, controlled lines, architecture that is immediately legible. You sense someone observing, structuring, organizing. Then, above and around, the large blue geometric shapes break the realism and impose another interpretation. This prevents the painting from becoming a mere "pretty cityscape."
The blue guides the eye.
Blue is the dominant color, but it's used effectively, providing breathing room and creating a cool distance that contrasts with the warm rooftops and the city's density. The eye moves freely. There's a lot of information, yet it remains legible. That's a difficult feat to achieve.
What's also interesting is the relationship to space. The city appears compact, almost crushed, while the geometric structures create fissures, as if the scene were traversed by a more abstract or introspective thought. Where many urban painters seek classical depth, he works instead with layering and fragmentation.
Technically, the work is of high quality.
Excellent control of complex perspectives, a coherent palette, a solid breakdown of masses, and a sense of visual rhythm.
I sense an influence of late Cubism, architectural Futurism, and perhaps a touch of contemporary stained glass in the flat planes and black lines.
The main strength, for me, is that he embraces a personal visual style. Many "well-painted" works are forgettable because they take no risks. This one takes a clear direction.
The only risk with this style is overload. In places, the upper geometric lines draw almost as much attention as the city itself, which some viewers might perceive as a slight competition between the subject and the graphic composition. But here, this tension is part of the painting's identity.
Antoine is a painter who has mastered composition; he has a keen eye, and above all, he doesn't paint like a diligent amateur. There's a true visual signature here.
I sense an influence of late Cubism, architectural Futurism, and perhaps a touch of contemporary stained glass in the flat planes and black lines.
The main strength, for me, is that he embraces a personal visual style. Many "well-painted" works are forgettable because they take no risks. This one takes a clear direction.
The only risk with this style is overload. In places, the upper geometric lines draw almost as much attention as the city itself, which some viewers might perceive as a slight competition between the subject and the graphic composition. But here, this tension is part of the painting's identity.
Antoine is a painter who has mastered composition; he has a keen eye, and above all, he doesn't paint like a diligent amateur. There's a true visual signature here.