RIDE & CREATE : Jade Robertson

RIDE & CREATE | Jade Robertson

In early June we stopped by the studio of Jade Robertson, an abstract artist and lifelong cyclist who this year created an artwork for a campaign with Café du Cycliste. Originally from the UK, Jade is now based in the Bastille area of Paris. Her art is, in her words, ‘about energy’ and if you take a look through her catalogue of paintings you can see how Jade’s work is certainly dynamic, but also heavily influenced by nature and the environment in which she often travels by bike. Cycling for most of her life, and coming from a family of cyclists, Jade went on mountain bike holidays as a child, honing her technical skills and a love for the exhilaration of cycling.

‘I got a pink drop-handlebar bike for my 10th birthday and thought I was the coolest. I learnt a big lesson when I put the pedal down and turned into a curb and came right off. It hurt, and [laughing] I’ve never done it since.’

After graduating she moved to New York City to pursue a textile-design career working for large brands for almost 20 years. Jade grew despondent with the homogenous world of commercial fashion and was desperate to find a new outlet for her creativity. But it was cycling, rather than art, that pushed her in a new and far more fulfilling direction.

‘I wasn’t feeling inspired in my professional life, and that’s when I started cycling more in New York City.’

Having commuted on a CX bike, she met a group of cyclists in New York and upgraded to a slicker road bike. Soon she was riding twice a week with this all-male group, pushing herself to new limits every Wednesday and Saturday on chain-gangs from the Big Apple into New jersey state.

‘Cycling was my everything. It allowed for the expression and outlet that my job wasn’t giving me. I just couldn’t wait to get out on the bike. And cycling with the guys made me really strong.’ ‘It sounds a bit corny but that gave me the push to do my own thing in my career. You know, I’m thinking “if I can ride with these guys, and I’m taking turns to pull on the front…” It was metaphorical in my career, and I started to be true to myself. My job ended in NYC and since then I’ve been a freelance artist.’ Jade moved to Paris and began looking for a similar group to ride with. Here she met Christophe Flemin, in-house photographer at Café du Cycliste, and they got talking about the creative world.

‘One of the beautiful things about cycling is you meet amazing people. It creates a camaraderie… Since I met Christophe, he’s been a great advocate and contact for my work.’

Having worked on a project with Christophe previously, he contacted Jade for about a campaign to launch the new Café du Cycliste footwear category.

‘The beauty of the project was I’m a cyclist and I know what it feels like to ride on the road and off the road, I know the feeling – you know like riding through Paris at 6am in the morning with no one around, that thrill of the ride. and I wanted to emulate that in the painting.’

Influenced by many things alongside Japanese painting and French abstract expressionism, Jade’s work is undoubtedly full of the energy and dynamism found when travelling fast on a bicycle. But it’s also a window into her ecstatic take on the world around her. She loves to capture the duality of her experience, blending light and dark, calm and chaos.

‘Most of my painting is about energy, and a feeling. So this project with Café was not difficult for me to interpret. We did a few versions, but not many. I used a few different techniques like the spray bottle to create the splash effect. It was a really fun project to work on.’

It's clear that Jade’s cycling life feeds directly into her art. Movement and textures fly out of the canvas like the road or trails in front of you. And she clearly understood the brief, the DNA of Café du Cycliste as a brand. ‘Things like water on the road, the dust, the tyre marks, and I think Christophe didn’t need to say much to me as I knew what you guys were looking for... I love capturing the movement and energy and trying to recreate that from the experience on the bike.’

Jade’s bouncy demeanour is even more apparent when you meet her, she beams with positivity and it’s infectious. But it’s perhaps the toil and discomfort (maybe even darkness) of hours in the saddle, especially when climbing and overcoming a hill or mountain that creates this dissonance, and ultimately clears the mind.

‘Cycling is like therapy for me. It makes me so happy. What you can learn from cycling is endless. It’s very metaphorical for life. Like when I rode Mt. Ventoux, these moments are very humbling. Overcoming, you know. It’s not just a work-out, you can really clear your mind, focus on the present, it’s really good for your mentality.’

As with all our subjects in this series, we pose the question, are the two worlds of cycling and creativity symbiotic? ‘I think cycling and creativity are strongly linked. It’s hard to visualise what comes into my head, but it helps me to free my mind, and I don’t think I could do one without the other. It allows me to stay present and focus. The physical and mental side of both are so important to me.’

Cycling and art have one overriding thing in common for her: energy. And this is of course what turns the pedals, creates the brush strokes and ultimately makes the world go round for Jade Robertson. She harnesses that energy in everything she does.

‘Without getting too philosophical, I think cycling and art have saved my life. I don’t know what I’d do without them. It’s 100% who I am. I know it's not easy to be a successful artist. I just want people to feel good when they see my painting. That energy I want to portray, it’s something that’s really important to me.’

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