Sacha CAMBIER de MONTRAVEL

Sacha Cambier de Montravel, a 2023 graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, unfolds his pictorial world around the question of violence and eroticism, impulses and passions.

By subverting the rules of early Italian and Flemish painting, he recreates his own garden of delights. In an urbanized landscape, a myriad of characters come to life in the glow of streetlights. Some rise up while others relieve themselves; the artist uses his work as an outlet to purge his fantasies and rebel against social issues.

The young Belgian artist plays with references, flirting with blasphemy by imposing a voyeuristic position on the viewer. With a certain cynicism, the politically incorrect finds its way into the religious register, ironically using the mediums and techniques typically reserved for ancient altarpieces.

For the 2024 edition of Private Choice, Sacha Cambier de Montravel has created a series honoring the famous Villa Malaparte. Perched 32 meters above the sea on Capo Massullo, a rock on the island of Capri, the artist draws inspiration from the myths and legends that have shaped the aura of this residence. Founded by Curzio Malaparte, its Pompeian red box shape and lines make it an icon of modern architecture.

The work with a Bruegelian composition, entitled Amour Vandale, presents the Villa sporting a blood-red color on its walls. The young painter has inscribed an Italian poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini on it: « That is why, in the anguish of my faults, I have never achieved true remorse ». In the background, a medieval city of the North seems to appear in the mist, creating a crossroads of eras and geographies.