The artist's studio.

Antoine Roegiers is a Belgian-born painter who lives and works in Paris. In his work, Roegiers enters into the great history of figurative painting. He creates works that evoke the narrative or genre scenes of the Flemish and Dutch Old Masters, in a similar vein to the apocalyptic visions of Hieronymus Bosch or the moralising paintings of Brueghel the Elder. Within this traditional aesthetic, his work reflects contemporary fears and concerns, namely the climate crisis and the global pandemic.
Roegiers' highly detailed paintings draw the viewer into a fantastical and strange world, rich in symbolism, which have a timeless quality whilst appearing undeniably contemporary. This is captured strikingly in his animated video works, unique objects that combine the artist's distinguished painterly skills with his interest in 21st century technologies.

'The Mocking Laugh' is part of the ongoing series, 'In the Shadow of the Clouds', described by the artist as 'a pictorial narration': creating an imagined, quasi-apocalyptic world which can be seen as an allegory for preoccupations of contemporary society, namely the climate crisis and political instability. The tale told through this series unfolds in each painting, following two characters who wake up in the aftermath of a big carnival to find that the world is devoid of humans. Journeying through an unsettling landscape, they encounter fantastical figures and situations rich in symbolism, such as a skeleton collecting carnival masks, a strange aircraft, and a devastating storm which causes huge wildfires.

In 'The Mocking Laugh', the scene introduces a pack of dogs, friends to the humans, who are trying to rescue the last remaining masks for their masters. This painting shows the frustration of these animals as the mask is consumed by the flames, which has also destroyed so much of the landscape around them.

This painting reveals just one corner of the world that the artist shows us in this series. Although created by him, Roegiers explains that the series is open for interpretation and non-linear; he does not intend for each painting to be considered in a strictly chronological way, emphasising instead that this world – like ours – is unpredictable and flexible, that each painting is an opportunity for discovery for each viewer.