Mascarade

"For several years I have been retrieving, buying and collecting old photographs, old identity portraits and family photographs from an earlier era. Little by little I started drawing with a Posca felt-tip painting pen, on the originals, initially just for the fun of it and without anything specific in mind. Later on, as I really liked that support, I continued to develop that approach by initiating a dialogue between the illustration and its photographic support. I started masking the faces, moving away from those rather set portraits to introduce a form of mystery, of uncanny. I derive my inspiration both from the effervescence in less affluent neighbourhoods and from the imagery of the sacred or in the tradition of masks in so-called ''primitive'' societies. The sources merge, creating a universe which I can call mine. The sources merge, creating a universe that is both dream-like and a bit bashed up, inhabited by nice monsters and phantasmagoric creatures." - Mathieu Van AsscheText in English and French.