Nuit de Fureur show opens at BDartiste

BDartiste is a small gallery in Paris' 9th arrondissement, just off the Rue des Martyrs at the foot of Montmartre.  The gallery's two owners, Jean-Baptiste Barbier and Antoine Mathon, are currently hosting a show of 21 original "planches" or pages of "Nuit de Fureur". 

This photo, taken at the June 20th opening, shows me with Matz (aka Alexis Nolent) and Rivages editor François Guérif

The show is open through June 14th.  You can see photos of the opening here.  The main site for BDartiste, where original art is available for purchase online, is here.

Nuit de Fureur has been out since the 5th of May and has so far met with a warm reception and lots of interest.  François Guérif and I were interviewed by the Figaro's Olivier Delcroix for his literary webcast last week, and you can see the video here.

Emmanuel Pierre at Galerie Martine Gossieaux

Martine Gossieaux's small gallery at 56, rue de l'Université (Paris 7ème) has come to be known as one of the choice venues for artists and illustrators here. In addition to its impeccable address the gallery is small but elegant and shows only the best: François Avril, Chloë Poizat, Sempé to name a few.

Emmanuel Pierre opened a new show there last night, Les Animaux Voyageurs, featuring images done mostly for fables (I believe much of the work was done for the French publisher Gallimard, either for "Gallimard-Jeunesse" or "Giboulé") and instantly reminded me of the artist's immense talent. More than a colorist, Emmanuel is a genius of line and someone who understands the importance of paper. As a result the drawings have a distinctly modern feel that nonetheless recalls 18th-century caricature. The drawings themselves are a study in pure, mineral "process" : we see every drop of rich ink, and when the artist uses watercolor -- sparingly but with real mastery -- it seems to leap off the paper. Like Jean-Philippe Delhomme, Emmanuel Pierre's work has that sort of "controlled chaos" that gives it a rare spontaneity -- the appearance of having been done in a few seconds in one fluid gesture, but which, on closer inspection, is clearly and carefully structured. The show is definitely worth a visit!

Through May 31 2008. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 2:30PM until 7:00PM. Tel. 01-45-44-48-55. www.galerie-martine-gossieaux.com

Pierre Mornet at BFB Gallery in Paris

Pierre Mornet's show opened last night at BFB in the 5th arrondissement. I don't think I'd had the chance to really look at a large body of work by this artist before, and the overall mood his images create is quite effective. There are a few small, square shaped canvasses, but the rest are oil paintings on paper, very nicely set in wide, sobre black wood frames that enhances the feel of decadent despair that permeates these paintings.

The subjects of Mornet's images tend to be beautiful but somewhat haunting young women with dark hair in settings that evoke pre-World War I symbolism. But we're far from Mark Ryden's "goth-esque" heroines in style : sometimes we're looking at textures of paint and color that recall the Nabis (Denis and Vuillard come to mind over and over again); at others there is a "Balthusian" clarity in his attachment to his subjects, a deep fascination with these haunting eyes peering out of languid, diaphanous faces that are both entrancing and unsettling.  The young women lie or sit motionless, as if the weight of some unbearable "ennui" has overtaken them, or meander aimlessly through landscapes that are either semi-abstract renderings of light and color or tightly structured, Rousseau-like decors. What this work lacks in variety it more than makes up for in intensity -- not to mention a entrancing melancholy that's hard to put your finger on, but which I highly recommend you experience firsthand!

This show is up through late April at the Galerie BFB, 5 rue Dante in the 5th Arrondissement.

Nuit de Fureur !

IT'S FINALLY OUT !

After more than a year and half, the "bande dessinée" adaptation of Jim Thompson's classic noir thriller Nuit de Fureur (Savage Night) has been published and will be available on May 8th. I worked with writer Matz to create this 82-page graphic novel adaptation, one of the four first titles in the new Rivages/Casterman/Noir collection which, in partnership with François Guérif's renowned mystery-story collection "Rivages Noir" will offer a series of graphic novel adaptations of well-known (and lesser-known) authors.

Over the next few months there will be a series of events around this new collection and I will do my best to keep things up to date on this site.  The collection will be featured at this year's Etonnants Voyageurs festival, held on May 8-10 at Saint Malo on the Brittany coast.  This will be followed on May 13th by a show at the Parisian art gallery BDartiste (55 rue Condorcet in the 9th arrondissement), a show at the Belgian gallery "Petits Papiers" in Brussels and finally a show in Geneva, at Papiers-gras, starting June 13th.  So the months of May and June should be busy ones.  Please contact me if you need any further info about these events or contact the galleries in question if you'd like invitations.

Painters of Light at the Petit Palais

We just saw a stunning show at the Petit Palais this morning : Sargent & Sorolla, Peintres de la Lumière (Painters of Light). I knew the Sargent pieces from reproductions and it was tremendous to see them up close -- to see how rich and bright the colors are, the complete mastery of paint texture and brush-strokes, the brilliant use of light. But the real surprise was Sorolla, whose work I have heard about but never seen. A contemporary of Sargent's, his work is absolutely unbelievable. The images intensely joyful, the light vivid and spontaneous. It's been a long time since I've been so moved by a painter's work. The show lasts through May 13th and is an absolute "must-see" for anyone that likes turn-of-the-century realist painting.

Interview with Eric Fassin in Le Monde

This drawing appeared in Le Monde the weekend before last, illustrating an interview with a French sociologist about the evolving sense of racial identity in the country -- notably via the rise of hip-hop culture and the suburban riots of last winter. His argument is that France has long resisted the american-style concept of a nation that hosts many distinct cultural identities under one roof. The French model has long been that the only way to ensure equality is to ignore the question of race altogether: once an immigrant becomes French, that is their only officially-recognized cultural identity. In reality, many point out, this policy just allows people to ignore the fact that many immigrant families are struggling in France, are heavily under-represented in government and are having tremendous difficulty integrating. Not that the US has many lessons to give on that subject, but it's an interesting perspective... My drawing is of a young woman in a burka wearing a Phyrigian bonnet -- the symbol of the French republic.

We don't know what this means...

...but it means something.