Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, November 21, 2025 : Justin de Verteuil, a Trinidad and Tobago emerging artist (#2424)

Friday, November 21, 2025

Artist of the Day, November 21, 2025 : Justin de Verteuil, a Trinidad and Tobago emerging artist (#2424)

Justin de Verteuil’s (1990) wistful paintings emerge like photos in development trays, Proustian memories, or recurring daydreams – little by little and never in their entirety. He likens his process to turning a radio dial back and forth ‘until you finally settle on the right frequency.’

His silhouetted figures appear poised between worlds: the interior realm of emotion and memory, and the external reality of boardwalks, buildings, and bustling crowds. Broad swaths of ochre and crimson that impinge upon the representative elements and stark contrasts of light and shadow lend the compositions their enigmatic, ambiguous atmospheres. His astute manipulation of light and shadow not only establishes the tone and atmosphere but also adds spatial depth and dimension through variations in visual temperature, saturation, and subtlety. Building on his interest in the way architecture frames and shapes narrative meaning, his new body of work, debuting at Basel, centers on balconies: liminal spaces where the interior and exterior, the physical and psychological, converge.

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