Artist Interviews 2025

Miles Rene Vankeersbilck  
By Johnny Otto



Detroit has clearly shaped much of your work. How does the city’s beauty and struggle continue to influence your choice of subjects and the emotions you want to convey?

I really feel like I’ll always paint landscapes of Detroit. It’s arguably one of the most beautiful places in the US. I feel like it’s my job to help show the world what Detroit really is. I don’t know how not to show the struggle. The city was such a harsh place for so long, the struggle is almost engrained into the work.



You describe your goal as pulling emotion from your audience. What emotions do you hope your work most often evokes, and how do you know when a painting is successful in that regard?

It really depends on the painting. I think when I’m painting a person or a portrait, I’m trying to bring a piece of humanity out. Some type of representation of them. Landscapes are different. The best way to describe what I’m looking for is an example. When I did my residency at Red Bull, a woman came up to me crying and said “You actually show the city the way it feels, the way we see it.” With landscapes, I want you to feel like you feel when you look at a really good portrait. Like there’s a life behind it, not just empty buildings and trees. I know I’m painting with almost a haunted feeling. So maybe I’m trying to pull nostalgia from the viewer. To be frank, I’ve never aimed for a feeling. I just wanted a feeling. Love, hate, sadness, whatever. We’re all so numb now. If I can even get a few seconds of emotion out of the viewer, I’m happy. My two reactions that stick out are the before mentioned one and one where a lady screamed at me and said “My daughter was freaked out about your paintings and couldn’t sleep” both pulled a strong reaction and feeling. So I kinda always thought of both as a good thing.



Your landscapes and portraits carry a dreamlike quality. Can you talk about how you developed that aesthetic, and what role atmosphere or mood plays in your process?

I really spent tons and tons of time at the Detroit Institute of Arts studying landscapes in person and trying to figure out what stood out and gave it a feeling. The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of the top museums in the nation. And it’s Detroit. So it’s different, I can sit in a room with a Van Gogh painting for an hour, where everywhere else in the world, there’s 50 people crowded into that room fighting to see it. It really helped me figure out where I wanted to go with my work. Also, Detroit was just like that: Empty. I try and erase most of the cars. That way it feels a little more intimate and safe.



Coming from a family of artists, how did their guidance and creative presence influence your own journey, and in what ways did you deliberately carve out your own path?

My dad’s one of the most talented artists I’ve known, and he kinda attacked every medium except oil painting. Watching him jump around and actually accomplish other art forms really helped me not feel boxed in to one style of painting. And he was rigid about art growing up. I had drawing practice with him daily for years. So I knew I had the talent and skill really young. I think that all helped me, as well as being around every form of art and different art scene. To be honest, I knew I wanted to paint from a really young age. That really helped me go my own way. It helped me forge my identity as an artist when I was young.



Your residency at Red Bull and early exhibitions with Cpop Gallery marked important milestones. How did those opportunities shape your confidence and career trajectory as a self-taught artist?

Cpop more than anything gave me such a huge boost of confidence. I was young and trying to decide if art school was right for me, and Rick and Tom contacted me to be in a show at Cpop. I really soaked up all the knowledge I could. I learned a lot and was very fortunate to get to sit around those guys. I can’t tell you how many times I would just call either of them up and talk art for hours. They gave me such a front row seat to the art world and the big name artists that float around in it. I really consider those guys as my “art parents”. Red Bull was great too. It was such a fast experience, but such a rich experience. I had a great residency with them and made a lot of close friends doing that residency. The head of that program ended up being one of my closer friends. I think it was a huge boost to my confidence and helped me feel confident in the way I was headed.



Being self-taught often means experimenting without boundaries. What have been the biggest challenges and rewards of learning on your own rather than through a formal art education?

I believe I stumbled a lot learning to paint, but I’m also hyper critical of myself. I got in big shows and galleries really early in my career. But I’m grateful I learned on my own. I think it helped me in a lot of ways. I mean, I read a lot and studied the paintings of the masters in detail, but It helped me pull my knowledge from a greater pool instead of having someone else’s style beat into me before I could discover my own.



Your work feels both personal and universal. How do you balance telling the story of your own Detroit upbringing with creating pieces that resonate more broadly?

In some ways I think the Detroit struggle just resonates universally. I mean, I know I’ve definitely explored my upbringing a lot in my work. Some things just translate universally. The big themes in my work have always been love, Detroit, beauty in struggle, climate change, and political struggle. And four of those translate universally. I think my second painting was of Che Guevara, so I feel like I’ve stayed on course. I’ve expanded what I can do in those four themes, But I’ve generally stayed the course since I picked up a brush.



Looking ahead, are there new mediums, themes, or directions you’re eager to explore in your practice, or do you see yourself continuing to refine the emotional landscapes you’re known for?

I honestly have a ton of ideas. They kinda jump all over the place. I really do plan on refining my landscapes. I think I’m really in that weird space of trying to figure out what’s important inside an image, what blurs the line between hyper realism and that moody, dark feeling. I still get way too excited about how the sunlight hits buildings, but I’m also working on a few more ideas. I’ve got about four shows I’ve been working on mentally for awhile now. I’ve been kind of working on those and doing album covers. I’m pretty set on medium. Anything past here is just gonna be me adding to the medium, like making my own frames or building 3D paintings. I honestly love oil. I love painting. I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.