Thierry De Cordier Biography

Thierry De Cordier is a philosopher, performer, sculptor, writer and poet. As a young artist, he lived a nomadic existence that caused him to reflect upon architecture as a model for social relations. For a long time, his garden was a substitute and a metaphor for the world. Later, he turned his back to the world to look at the sea. Thierry De Cordier is an existential artist who tries to understand the world through his own experience. His work is the result of a personal quest: a search for his own identity, his relationship to the world, and his role within society. His work, in which the infinitely small is reflected in the infinitely big, develops organically from his inner psyche. In the last few decades, Thierry De Cordier has dedicated himself to painting. Recurrent themes include mountains, seascapes and desolate landscapes that are partly inspired by the vast, black and white topographical paintings made in China during the 17th and 18th century, yet capture the essential qualities of the landscape and light of Northern Europe. The grey skies and ink black seas of his monochromatic paintings evoke melancholy, with the most dramatic scenes being those in which waves and mountainous cliffs fuse together to embody the forces of nature within a single primal image.