Artist: Justin de Verteuil
Exhibition title: Sweet Odour
Venue: ADZ Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
Date: March 9 – April 8, 2023
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and ADZ Gallery, Lisbon
ADZ Gallery is pleased to present the gallery‘s first presentation
of Justin de Verteuil. Titled Sweet Odour, the exhibition explores the complexities of interpersonal relationships and the tension in seeking intimacy while partially concealing one’s private feelings and emotions. The title draws attention to the darker impulses ubiquitously present in all of us, revealed in the smell of sweat, an odour which admits one’s true inclinations and fears. de Verteuil arrives at his images through an organic interplay of biographical and literary sources, guided by intuition and consideration of painterly composition.
Born in 1990 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Justin de Verteuil began his education with an informal tutorship under Edward Bowen in 2012 in Trinidad before attending the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 2014 as a guest student in the class of Peter Doig. His time at the academy was divided between the class of Siegfried Anzinger from 2015-2020 and Katherina Wulff between 2020- 2023. Justin was awarded as Meisterschüler in 2019 by Siegfried Anzinger.
