French artist with Cavan links skating on thin ice

While most people are lucky to have one major talent in their lives, Alexandre Beretta-O’Reilly has three, as reporter Michael Keaveny found out.

As well as making a living as an artist, the talented Frenchman, who grew up in Paris but whose paternal grandmother is from Cavan, will represent Ireland at the world skate games in Argentina this month in the skate cross-discipline.

This is a high-speed roller skating event involving jumps and obstacles across 200-300 metres.

He also hopes to represent Ireland at the 2026 winter Olympics in Milan in the ice cross event, a sport which involves daring downhill skating on a walled track featuring sharp turns and high vertical drops.

“I’m going to be the first ever Irish rider in the event, I’m really happy and pleased about it. The event happens every two years and there’ll be 7,000 athletes from 80 countries so it will be an amazing thing to be a part of,” he says excitedly.

While in Argentina competing in the event, he hopes to continue his work as an artist.

“I’m going for one month. When I’m over there, I’m going to work with the French Institute and I will do different projects like giving art classes to children or paint murals in favelas to help local communities.”

Alex’s other main sporting passion is ice cross, which is a sport where competitors travel down a hill of ice on a blade no more than 2mm wide at speeds of up to 80km per hour. Although the sport is not an Olympic event yet, Alex hopes it will be recognised ahead of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan.

Despite only taking up the sport in 2018, Alex has progressed rapidly up the ranks and is now 32nd in the world.

“The sport was created by Red Bull,” Alex explains, but they left the project and now we have an international federation. This is so it can be officially recognised by the Olympic Committee. I’m confident that it will be in the Olympics. Sports like ski cross, snowboard cross or even BMX are all very similar to it, it’s just a different way of moving. If they can make it into the games, then why not us?” he surmises.

Alex’s main source of income is through his art. Although his preferred medium is murals, he works across many different types of art.

“I went to mural school in Lyon. One of my artistic aims is to paint a mural in every country in the world. I give a lot of classes to children or to the public. I’m not limiting myself into just one type of art because I wouldn’t survive. So I paint canvases, murals, shoes and clothes. I can also paint cupboards, cars or whatever people want, it doesn’t matter.”

As well as growing up in Paris, Alex also spent 10 years in Lyon.

He has also developed his own form of painting where he uses his rollerblading skills to create art and has big plans for it in the future.

“I came up with an art form called rollerblading painting process. I am the only one in the world doing this. So I’m trying to develop it. It’s not really widely known in France, so I’m trying to ship it in the US right now.

“I applied for America’s Got Talent for it. So I have an audition in mid-December.”

One problem for Alex is that competing in two sports requires a lot of financial support and he is reliant on the generosity of sponsors.

“For my upcoming trip to Argentina flights, accommodation and new skates all cost €5,000. I was lucky enough to get this sponsored.

“If I want to compete in the Olympics, I’ll need sponsors, otherwise I can’t go. Art is not enough to live properly.”

Balancing high-level competition and trying to make it in the art world can also be a difficult balancing act according to Alex.

“I put a lot of effort into sport. All the time I put into this means that I’m losing the opportunity to make money from art. But the opposite is also true.

“It’s complicated. This is why I really need sponsors to help to travel around the world to present Ireland.”

Alex is very proud of his Cavan roots and has visited his ancestral homeland many times over the years.

“My grandmother from my father’s is Irish. She came to Paris to work for UNESCO. But we still have a lot of family in Cavan and we go every year to visit.

“They live all over Cavan but mostly in Crosserlough and Ballyjamesduff. Before Covid, I came over every year now. I haven’t come since Covid. I gave art classes to local kids in 2015 and I painted a mural in the Cavan County Museum in 2018.”