Antoine Pecquet (New Caledonia-Nouméa)
Antoine Pecquet (b.1964 in Paris, France) is a French diaspora artist who has been living in Noumea, New Caledonia since 2012. His first encounter with art was through his father who worked at the Musée du Louvre and loved to take Antoine to exhibitions in galleries and museums. He also read a lot of his father’s collection of art books and catalogs. In his 20s, he tried to study philosophy by becoming an assistant to several artists and photographers such as Sophie Calle, Yves Oppenheim, David Seidner, and Jean-Jacques Castres. Other than that, he also worked as a journalist.
In 2000, he began to create visual artworks using Photoshop. He believed digital works have unlimited potential to explore. Take for example electronic music production; it involves sampling, filtering, and mixing processes to become a new creation. In terms of discourse, many of his works mostly talk about the complexity of postcolonial relations between white people and indigenous people, as well as dubious prejudices that worsen the situation today.
“Le Diable Blanc” (2019); “The Shore” (2020); “The Void” (2020); “Fly Agaric” (2021); “Asanga” (2021); “Mysterious Island” (2021).
Mixed Media on Digital Collage | Variable size
While exploring gender and identity issues, Antoine’s digital collages speak about the complexities of the postcolonial relationship between European-descent and indigenous people. He calms his anxiety about this matter by creating humorous and ironic dream-like scenes where there are no heroes or villains. His work tries to open the conversation about prejudice in modern society.
“Le Diable Blanc” (2019) illustrates how both sides think badly of each other, within a set reminiscent of the classical pictorial representations of Eden’s Garden. The snake-like figure of the « white devil » sneaks out of the man’s crotch, underlining the link between prejudice and desire. “The Void” (2020) isa satire of the disproportionate ambition of certain artists who attempt to find God or to reach the ultimate truth through their work. Here the attempt fails spectacularly under the eye of the wild pig, a sacred animal in Vanuatu’s traditional culture. “Fly Agaric” (2021) celebrates the courage of shamans in ancient times, bold enough to experiment on themselves the dangerous powers of nature.