In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Louis-Antoine Gilbert!

About Louis-Antoine Gilbert: French-American painter and artist known for his acrylic on canvas works that create the illusion of depth, living in Washington, DC for nearly a decade, creating colorful acrylic cityscapes inspired by brutalist and modernist architecture, art deco design, and graphic novels by Moebius, François Schuiten, and Benoît Peeters. His cubist-influenced work draws from M.C. Escher and Wassily Kandinsky, and he's also a musician, beat maker, and painting instructor.

In our conversation, Gilbert talks through growing up in Paris with parents who brought him to free museums and concerts, first wanting to be an artist at age four after seeing an orchestra, and starting with graffiti following older kids in the streets. He connects his journey from Parisian punk bands to DC's basement show scene and digs into how DC's greenery—particularly Rock Creek Park—has transformed his gray, Parisian-inspired compositions into more hopeful work with vegetation. As he puts it, discovering DC made him realize "both cities, both of them have brutalist and modern buildings in them."

He recalls meeting artist Autumn Spears early in his DC years, shares stories from selling affordable original drawings at the Little DuPont flea market every six weeks, and discusses learning that French house music actually originated from Detroit. We get into the realities of teaching painting in summers, the influence of graphic novels from his dad's collection, and how nearly a decade in DC has made him rethink the art deco shapes he loved from Paris.

Be sure to follow Louis-Antoine Gilbert on Instagram at @antoine_paints to keep up with his work and future projects.

Photo courtesy of subject.

The Truth In This Art is supported by William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council's Creativity Grant and Mayor's Individual Artist Award - Creative Baltimore Fund (Baltimore). 

Host: Rob Lee
Music: Original music by Daniel Alexis Music with additional music from Chipzard and TeTresSeis.
Production: