Antide’s work explores the fragile boundary between decay and sublimation.
Time-worn wood, rusted metal, forgotten stones—these fragments bear the memory of their erosion. Yet in his studio, an alchemical process takes place. Through the oxidation of metals—induced by carefully controlled acid baths—surfaces bloom with unexpected shades.
Du vert turquoise au brun profond, ces couleurs ne sont pas peintes, mais révélées par la chimie même de la matière, comme si le métal livrait sa vérité secrète.
This approach resonates with a long artistic tradition. Since Antiquity, artisans have admired the patina of bronze and the nobility of aged metals. More recently, artists such as Anselm Kiefer have used burned and oxidized lead to evoke the passage of time and collective memory. Richard Serra, with his monumental Corten steel sculptures, has embraced rust as an integral part of the artwork, celebrating the action of time instead of resisting it. For Antide, gold enters as a counterpoint to oxidation.
L’oxydation exprime la fragilité, l’altération, l’éphémère. L’or, au contraire, vient suspendre ce processus, apporter une lumière intemporelle, presque sacrée. La juxtaposition des deux crée une tension poétique : d’un côté la chimie brute, de l’autre la symbolique éternelle. En assemblant métal, pierre et bois, Antide compose des œuvres qui semblent figer le temps tout en racontant son passage.
It is a poetic chemistry: where science produces oxidation, art transforms it into a visual and symbolic language. This is not a gesture of mere preservation, but of transfiguration.