Vert absinthe 2 (2018) Painting by Romuald Gamelin

Saskia, whose real name is Romuald Gamelin, was born in Dieppe, in Normandy (France), on 11 April 1975.

Born into a working-class environment that did little to spark artistic awakening, he was nevertheless attracted to the arts – drawing, painting and music – from a very early age.

He taught himself the guitar, and how to compose music. He still gives some lessons today.

But painting, even more than music, was what he really wanted to study.

As a teenager, he dreamt of entering the School of Fine Arts. But unfortunately his social circumstances denied him this prestigious institution.
This made it impossible for him to gain the foundations for his future calling, impossible to do the necessary groundwork...
Thus it was once more alone that he would strive to understand painting, and to learn.

Several years later, in 2013, at a small local exhibition, he displayed his nascent work. Still in search of a nom de plume, it was under the name Detlev that he exhibited four of his paintings.
These were a mix of acrylic, Indian ink and collages, with a definite echo of street art.
A short article in a local newspaper gave him the boost he needed to continue along this path.
Day after day he painted, trying his hand at different styles, different techniques, drawing inspiration from the lives of the artists he read about in books, and rediscovering those of the Montparnasse painters (Soutine, Modigliani, Van Dongen).

But it was in 2014, when he attended an exhibition devoted to the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, that he developed a true passion for the universe of this artist who died in 1920 at the age of 36.
This spurred him to begin some real research work into the use of colours, and to make the choice to paint only in oils from now on.
Despite social pressure, he also took the decision to cease all professional activity, in order to devote himself exclusively to his artistic career.
Since then, he has worked every day, polishing his style, and ceaselessly creating new works with a view to the next exhibition.

• Nationality: FRANCE
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary French Artists