Daniel Uytterhaeghe, known as Duytter by his artist's name, is a French painter born in Lille in 1963.
In 1985, he graduated from ésaat* in Roubaix. For over 20 years, Duytter worked as a graphic designer creating textiles for the clothing and furniture industries. His first urban scenes were created at an early age, and in 2007 he threw himself completely into his career as an artist... with good reason. His success was immediate, and his work has been exhibited from Lille to Singapore, via Cairo and Megève.
Backlight, low-angled sun, Duytter paints light through shadows.
The scenes take place in the city, on the street, in bars and cafés, often early in the morning or at dusk, at those hours that don't belong to everyone, when the crowds haven't yet arrived or left. He creates intimate moments in common places. And if he sometimes paints a crowded moment, each individual seems singular, almost isolated.
The banality of his themes makes his work a witness to our times. The chiaroscuro gives them character and the play of light poetry.
Faced with a painting by Duytter, we can't help but think of Edward Hopper for his calm, melancholy moods, then Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Vermeer for his treatment of light.
You might think it was hyperrealism if you looked at his work without getting too close. This is not the case, even if the technical prowess confuses us and takes us into imaginary scenes. For Duytter composes and transforms to reveal his vision, his truth about the contemporary world.
"I like to leave parts of the sketches visible, to keep the spontaneity and not fall into hyperrealism.
When an artist is a virtuoso, the most difficult thing is to learn to channel his talent: to measure it, to gauge it, so that it serves his art and not the other way round. Duytter is the perfect example.
* Ecole Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et du Textile
