"Creating space for actions and discussions, thinking how we could be all more fraternal, helpful and kind to everyone are topics that really matters to me"
- Arsène Welkin
Born in Paris (France) in 1993, Arsène Welkin lives and works in Arles (France). After studying philosophy at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, the self-taught painter and musician starts to get noticed at a solo show exhibition at the Maison Close (Arles) in 2020.
Driven by a quest for purity and contemplation, his work takes shape through still life and portraits, where familiar figures rub shoulders with imaginary beings, often imbued with traditional customs and historical references. This was followed by a residency at the Château of Tarascon and a first personal exhibition at Double V - Marseille in 2021. The artist continues his path with a residency at the Riad Secret Garden in Marrakech, as well as a group exhibition by The Tesoro, in Amsterdam.
His work has been exhibited in France and abroad, notably through a solo show at the gallery’s Paris space in 2023, as well as at several international art fairs, including Art Paris (2022 and 2024), Future Fair New York (2023 and 2024), and more recently ARCO Madrid (2025).
Arsène is also the subject of a solo exhibition at the Hameau des Baux, in the south of France, opening in May 2025. His works are part of several private and institutional collections, including the Tesoro Collection (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and the Thalie Foundation (Brussels, Belgium).
YOUR PAINTINGS OFTEN DEPICT CONTEMPLATIVE FIGURES SURROUNDED BY PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND SYMBOLIC IMAGERY. HOW DO THESE NATURAL AND SYMBOLIC ELEMENTS SHAPE THE EMOTIONAL TONE OR NARRATIVE IN YOUR WORK, AND HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH SYMBOLS OR MOTIFS TO INCLUDE IN A PIECE?
Most of my work has the vocation to be joyful at first impression. Using strong, hot solar colours, but underneath there is a reflection of the symbolics of colours, using them as a key of understanding of what is actually going on on the painting and in which mood the people I paint could be. I have also a strong connection with nature in general, with plants and flowers, that I associate as a way of putting on the table how humans in general can and could interact with it. For example, I paint many Toreros, as I understand them as Nature Morte makers, as revealed by their outfits, full of lights and flowers, and as professional bull killer. Even is tragedy is almost always suggested in those portraits, what I wanna reach from the viewer is questioning itself from this relationship with Nature, and what is in it. The result is most of the time people that would be in a contemplative state of mind, either in their inner self, or inside a “natural” context. It could also be people holding or offering flowers, which would be in a way a love declaration to someone or to Nature itself. I’ve also realised an all exhibition of an hiking adventure thew forests and mountains in the quest of finding fireflies, which amazed me when I was a child, and that almost completely disappeared in France nowadays. Fireflies are to me the metaphorical way of a nature that literally shine, and also that is also dying, which would represent our modern tragedy.
WHAT WAS THE KEY INSPIRATION TO TAKING PART IN 4BYSIX'S INITIATIVE? HOW DO YOU FEEL THEIR MORALS AND WAYS OF WORKING TO ALIGN WITH YOUR ARTISTIC PRACTICE?
When Thom asked me to join this exhibition, it didn’t take long to me to answer with a big YES. I’ve already work with him on an exhibition in Amsterdam a few years ago. And when he explained to me about the 4BYSIX’s initiative, it just made stronger my desire to be part of it. I’m convinced that art can change life in many ways, therefore organising exhibitions to spotlight vulnerable children conditions, as well as all the challenges that society have to face. Creating space for actions and discussions, thinking how we could be all more fraternal, helpful and kind to everyone are topics that really matters to me, and if my painting, and the money raised with it, can help at least a little bit, that I would be very proud of.
DID WORKING ON OUR UNCONVENTIONAL CANVAS COME WITH ANY CHALLENGES OR ALTERED THE WAY YOU APPROACH YOUR COMPOSITION AND/OR STORY TELLING?
On the matter of the canvas, not really in a technical way cause I’ve been used on my early years of painting to use any kind of materials in the street I would paint on.
Arsène Welkin
Title: "The Flower Listener" 2025
Medium: Oil paint and oil sticks on tarpaulin
Dimensions: 90 x 90cm
Framing: We suggest to frame floating in a box frame without glass. Frame not included
WHAT DRIVES YOUR PRACTICE AND THE NEED TO TELL STORIES OF CONTEMPLATION AND LOCAL PEOPLE THOUGH AN EXPLORATIVE, YET, SIMPLE DISTINCTIVE STYLE?
First of all I paint to find my own balance, and to express what feels like too much for me. So I naturally want to enter this contemplative mood, and express this active way of looking at the world, people and its details. My work is always crossed by scenes I’ve seen, people I met, or thoughts I can have at the moment. It could be, for example, a reflexion of the water subject, how we use it, and would lead me to paint people in bathrooms, or gypsys dancers that I feel amazed by their movements and want to capture this freedom instincts, or like trying to enter deep inside a culture and rituals, which I’m doing in north Africa, and get interested by jewellery, outfits, tattoos meaning … In conclusion i would say that I'm interested by how people wears freedom, and all the manifestations and energy that result from that.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT ANY PROJECTS YOU ARE WORKING ON NOW? WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU?
I’m currently in residency at the Riad Jardin Secret in Marrakech, where I’m cooking my next solo show in December at the new Rigotang Gallery, will be my first show in Africa.
Then I will be participating at the Arco Madrid Art Fair and will have another solo show in April in Marseille, with and at the Double V Gallery.