blaw
painting / 2006



Inspired by the famous French comic book "Lieutenant Blueberry" by Jean Giraud, this painting is an extension of previous works such as the photo series Memory stills and the video installation I don't mind takin' a cab. Even if in this painting the artist's face replaces the famous Lientenant’s one, this aims to be more than just a self-portrait: it is a process that produces a visual form of the artist's experience as a reader. While he is re-painting exactly, piece by piece, stroke after stroke, (but on scale 1/1), a familiar character, action and style from his childhood, he reenacts, in a magnified way, the original author’s gestures and energy, as a sort of catharsis.


"In drawing, there are many ways to play: there’s the one that consists in getting in your own universe and the one that consists in going playing in others’ playground; by doing so, in a certain way, you experiment their way of thinking. (…) you make extraordinary discoveries because you find out that each style, each period allows to express a specific type of energy, a specific mentality. It’s a bit like being an actor."
Moebius (a.k.a. Jean Giraud) in Les Vacances du Major (Les Humanoïdes Associés - 1990)



Acrylic on canvas, 153 x 135cm

Private collection