The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation awards its third scholarship to a young artist from Villa Arson

The third scholarship for a young artist, created as part of the partnership established by the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation and Villa Arson in 2017, was awarded last Saturday 16 October 2021 to Mathis Pettenati at Villa Arson.

Born in Toulouse in 1997, Mathis Pettenati lives and works in Brussels.

Studying at the Villa Arson from 2016, he received his master’s degree in Fine Arts (DNSEP) with distinction for ‘excellence in visual art’ in 2021.

Influenced by graffiti, by the artists of the New York School and by a drawing practice that has been part of his life since childhood, Mathis Pettenati works in large format and in series. In pursuit of an organic, vegetal and floral expression, he employs a wide range of mediums in his painting, from varnishes, resins and acrylics to lacquers and pure pigment. Mixed and dripped on to stretched canvas, they fill his work with forms of child-like appeal. Trees, a trainer, extraordinary lamps, clocks and dials – these figures appear often by analogy with others and spontaneously. The cycle of painting itself transforms the figures, giving rise to new series.

Mathis Pettenati was chosen for this scholarship from a shortlist of ten young artists who graduated from Villa Arson in 2020 and 2021, distinguishing themselves through their practice of painting and drawing.