I have two caps: one scientific and one artistic.
I am passionate about science, especially image processing and computer vision. I made it my first profession.
Art, in its different forms of visual expression, offered me a balance and a parallel path to express my creativity.
Scientific Studies
After a bachelor’s degree in physics in Belgium (1982), I had a scholarship to do a Master’s degree in Computer and Systems Engineering in the USA (1984). Then, as part of my work at the PRLB lab of PHILIPS, I did a PhD at ENST (École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Paris).
Artistic Training
My artistic training began at a very young age, observing and listening to my sister, gifted with a precocious talent. Her artist friends and all those who formed my own network sharpened my gaze. As an adult, I took evening classes and participated in workshops to explore different techniques: drawing, painting, silkscreen printing, engraving, sculpture and photography. I have presented my work in solo and group exhibitions since 1995.
Notably:
the " Prix de la Gravure " (1997): Center for Engraving and Printed Images, La Louvière;
the "13th Open Photography Prize" (2000): Museum of Photography, Charleroi;
the "RTBF Collection" (2012): BOZAR, Brussels.My artistic work
A showcase of my artistic work, mainly focused on photography is visible here: https://vincianelacroix.myportfolio.com/ and on instagram (vincy.lacroix).
Color
In 2010 I organized a series of lectures on color and sound at the Collège Belgique; Félix d’Haeseleer, Vincent Batens, and Stéphane Pigeon were my collaborators.
In 2013, I gave a series of lectures at ISELP: from light to color, a vision between sciences and arts.
Color is at the crossroads of these scientific and artistic fields. Color is a production of the mind. Indeed, at the beginning, it has a ray of light. It interacts or not with matter, before being captured by the photoreceptors of our retina. This signal is then interpreted by the eye-brain. On the other hand, color is used by the artist to tell us stories, to transmit emotions, to dazzle us.
Aware of this phenomenon that produces a colored sensation, the artist often has only an intuitive knowledge of it. Scientific knowledge would allow him to better exploit the potential of color. His pictorial language, his composition and even the presentation of his works would benefit from it.
In addition, discovering how an artist has exploited the mechanisms of vision makes it possible to approach science in a more playful way. Moreover, the anchoring of knowledge will be all the more effective as magic and emotion will also be present.
The development of the sense of color is an opening on the world, on cultures, and also on oneself. By the wonder it brings, it offers us a light and free happiness, by small touches.