Thomas Decuypere

BIO I SELECTED WORKS | CV

Thomas Decuypere (b. 2000, Kortrijk, Belgium) explores the intersection of mythology, gaming culture and painting. His meticulously rendered scenes bring together ancient myths and contemporary visual languages, creating imagined worlds in which the artist himself often appears as both protagonist and observer.

Drawing from Greek mythology, Christian iconography and the visual vocabulary of video games, Decuypere reinterprets familiar stories through a distinctly contemporary lens. Landscapes become hybrid spaces where mythological figures, digital imagery, architectural elements and gaming references coexist. His paintings balance meticulous realism with absurd and humorous interventions, allowing serious themes such as desire, jealousy, revenge, vanity and human vulnerability to emerge with a sense of self-mockery and playfulness. For Decuypere, mythology and games share a fundamental quality: both construct worlds governed by their own rules, populated by characters driven by human impulses. By placing himself within these worlds, he turns the painted image into a stage on which ancient narratives and contemporary experiences can collide. His work reflects on how stories, images and archetypes continue to shape the way we understand ourselves, while questioning where the boundaries between high and popular culture, reality and fiction, and the sacred and the absurd lie.

In 2024, he obtained his MFA in Painting from LUCA School of Arts. He has already exhibited in numerous venues, including the Roger Raveel Museum, WARP, Broeihaard, De Gaverprijs, University of England Graduates (UK), 30 Under 30 at Kunstenhuis Harelbeke, History of the Future in Damme, and Diskus in Aalst. In 2024, he had his first solo gallery show at BARBÉ, titled Can’t Stop the Gods from Engineering, followed by his participation in the 2024 Biennale of Painting at the Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek (BE). In the past two years BARBÉ presented works in several group exhibitions and art fairs such as Art Rotterdam (NL) and Art Antwerp (BE).