Quentin Derouet
b. 1988 · Lives and works in Paris & Aveyron
Born in 1988, Quentin Derouet graduated from the Fine Arts School of Grenoble in 2010 and Villa Arson in 2012, earning accolades from the jury. In the same year, he received the City of Nice Prize for his radical and minimal gesture (Encore un geste d'amour): crushing a bouquet of roses along a wall. Between 2012 and 2022, Quentin Derouet created a fragrance from the essential oil obtained after distilling all his early works (Intention, 2013). He invited the public to draw on museum walls with seasonal flowers through his participatory installation J'aime jouer avec les fleurs et vous? (2012-2022). Additionally, he developed La Petite Théorie Mathématique des Espaces Poétiques (2012) and curated several exhibitions.
In 2015, with the support of artist Fabrice Hyber in the post-diploma program Les Réalisateurs in collaboration with the School of Fine Arts in Nantes-Saint Nazaire, Derouet collaborated with scientists and the company Meilland to create a new variety of rose. Its unique characteristic is leaving the most beautiful trace when crushed on a surface. He then developed various series of "rose on canvas," engaging with both cave art and the history of contemporary painting.
Quentin Derouet currently works between his two studios in Paris and Comprégnac in Aveyron, where he cultivates a rose garden and paints exclusively based on flowering seasons. His research is primarily anchored between creating paintings and institutions, where he reactivates his in-situ installations. This includes exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Strasbourg in September 2022, under the invitation of curator Anna Millers (J'aime jouer avec les fleurs et vous?), at the Espace Fondation Écureuil in Toulouse in January 2023, and in 2021 at Frac Champagne Ardenne (Encore un geste d'amour). His work has been exhibited at notable venues such as the Museum of Modern Art in Saint-Etienne, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice in 2018, Kunst Merano Arte in Italy in 2015, Villa Arson, Pearl Art Museum in Shanghai in 2021, and the Massena Museum in Nice in 2022, curated by Jean-Jacques Alliagon.
In 2018, he co-founded the gallery Pauline Pavec, where he works in parallel with his artistic practice, rediscovering works of historical artists like Robert Malaval, Jacques Prévert, or Jacqueline Lamba.
