Jean Giraud
12 Oct 2010 - 13 Mar 2011
JEAN GIRAUD
MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME
From October 12, 2010 to March 13, 2011, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME, the first important solo exhibition in Paris devoted to the work of Jean Giraud, alias Moebius. A legend in the world of comic strip art, a master of draftsmanship, an inventor of extraordinary forms, Moebius has continuously moved beyond the conventions of his discipline. The theme of metamorphosis, which runs throughout the artist’s entire career, will be the central focus of this major exhibition of his work. Replete with shifting landscapes and characters that are continuously changing, the drawings of Moebius explore the limits of the unconscious, revealing an imaginary and fantastical world. Through the often sudden and disturbing transformation of a character, Moebius opens up the possibility that the forms in our environment may not be as stable as they seem.
Moebius and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain first presented the work of Moebius in the exhibition 1 monde réel (1999) devoted to the relationship between reality, fiction, and science fiction. For this occasion, the Fondation Cartier presented two of the artist’s previously unseen notebooks which have now become a part of its collection. Moebius used the drawings of one of these notebooks to later create Le Chasseur déprime, a major album of the series Le Garage hermétique. This project also led to his first conversations with philosopher and urbanist Paul Virilio as well as to a live discussion with the astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré on the Mir space station.
A Multifaceted Artist
Since the middle of the 1950s, Jean Giraud has developed a variety of styles, from the detailed realism of Blueberry, to the dreamlike drawings of Arzach or 40 days dans le Désert B. He is particularly well-known for his extraordinarily refined and strangely metaphysical visions of the future with intricately designed spacecraft, crystalline landscapes, and hybrid creatures. Internationally recognized, his work has profoundly influenced the worlds of science fiction, animation, publicity, 3D imagery and video games for over thirty years. His drawings have also attracted the attention of great filmmakers who have asked him to collaborate on a number of films including Luc Besson’s 5th Element (Diva), James Cameron’s Abyss (undersea creatures), Steven Lisberger’s Tron (costumes), Ridley Scott’s Alien (costumes), and René Laloux’s Les Maîtres du temps (storyboard) among many others. A Shifting Artistic Identity Jean Giraud’s dual pseudonyms Gir and Moebius reflect his own shifting artistic identity. In the early sixties he began his collaboration with Jean-Michel Charlier, the chief editor of Pilote, and created Blueberry, signing this popular Western series “Gir”. At the same time, he published his first short comics in Hara-Kiri under the name Moebius after the German mathematician who first discovered the Moebius strip. Like this strip, whose two ends fold together to form a one-sided loop, the artist sees his identity as dual “Going from Giraud to Moebius, I twisted the strip, changed dimensions, I was the same and yet someone else. Moebius is the result of my duality.1” Gir and Moebius move between two distinct styles, two ways of viewing the world. Gir is the author of the classic Hollywood-style Western, Moebius explores the realm of science fiction. Gir follows the traditional narrative forms of comic strip art, Moebius, inspired by the non-linear writings of the author Raymond Roussel, transgresses conventional narrative to involve the reader in generating meaning.
Gir uses photography and film as his source to portray the Western landscape and its characters with baroque detail, Moebius employs techniques related to the surrealist dessin automatique, to create a world that is in constant flux.
Trance as a Creative Process
Metamorphosis is not only to be found in the shape-shifting forms within the artist’s work or his alternative identities, but is also an essential part of the artistic process he has defined over the years. Following his two trips to Mexico in 1955 and 1965, he would develop new perspectives on his work. It was in Mexico that he first encountered the infinite horizons and extraordinary natural forms of the Mexican desert that would become an important part of his drawings from Blueberry to Arzach. In Mexico, he would also discover the shamanic culture of Native Americans and experiment for the first and only time with hallucinogenic mushrooms. This powerful experience would lead him to consider the trance as a creative process—a technique that would allow him to explore the strange and fantastical and to defy, within his drawings, the rules of nature and verisimilitude. For Moebius, the state of trance also has the potential to bring about metamorphosis.
evolving Forms Throughout Moebius’ work run many stories of ever-changing bodies. In series such as Le Garage hermétique, Le Monde d’Edena or L’Incal, forms are porous and morph into one another: human, animal, plant, mineral, fuse and meld. Moebius’s metamorphoses include any number of incongruous disruptive mutations: people are petrified or disintegrate, men turn into women, the young become suddenly old, spaghetti-like forms or hideous protuberances invade the body. Moebius also explores the many processes that lead to transformation including his fascination for dreams, meditation and the transformative power of crystals.
Drawings, Paintings and Films
Realized in collaboration with Moebius Production, the exhibition at the Fondation Cartier will present original notebooks, comic boards and paintings as well as new, previously unpublished drawings. The exhibition will also feature two new films screened for the first time at the Fondation Cartier: a 3D animated film co-directed by Moebius and BUF Compagnie and based on his comic strip La Planète Encore as well as a 52-minute portrait of the artist realized specifically for the show by Damian Pettigrew and Olivier Gal. Through a spectacular exhibition design showcasing over 300 drawings, the visitor will be provided with an unprecedented opportunity to discover the work of a highly influential artist who has continuously pushed back the limits of form in search of new horizons.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1938, Jean Giraud (alias Moebius or Gir) is a legendary author and comic strip artist. In 1963, under the name Gir he and Jean-Michel Charlier, then director of Pilote, created the series Blueberry. Following the death of Charlier, Jean Giraud continued this series, which currently counts about thirty albums. As co-creator in 1975 of the magazine Métal Hurlant and the publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés, Jean Giraud developed the unique style which he signed Moebius, publishing such groundbreaking works as Arzach (1976) and Le Garage hermétique (1979) that revolutionized the art of comics. In 1980, he collaborated with Alexandro Jodorowsky on a new series L’Incal and later worked on numerous films. In 1997, he and his wife Isabelle founded the publishing house Moebius Production / Stardom where together they publish books including, most recently, volume six of the Inside Moebius series, which was released in January 2010. They also make prints and organize exhibitions of his work throughout the world.
MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME
From October 12, 2010 to March 13, 2011, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain will present MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME, the first important solo exhibition in Paris devoted to the work of Jean Giraud, alias Moebius. A legend in the world of comic strip art, a master of draftsmanship, an inventor of extraordinary forms, Moebius has continuously moved beyond the conventions of his discipline. The theme of metamorphosis, which runs throughout the artist’s entire career, will be the central focus of this major exhibition of his work. Replete with shifting landscapes and characters that are continuously changing, the drawings of Moebius explore the limits of the unconscious, revealing an imaginary and fantastical world. Through the often sudden and disturbing transformation of a character, Moebius opens up the possibility that the forms in our environment may not be as stable as they seem.
Moebius and the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain
The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain first presented the work of Moebius in the exhibition 1 monde réel (1999) devoted to the relationship between reality, fiction, and science fiction. For this occasion, the Fondation Cartier presented two of the artist’s previously unseen notebooks which have now become a part of its collection. Moebius used the drawings of one of these notebooks to later create Le Chasseur déprime, a major album of the series Le Garage hermétique. This project also led to his first conversations with philosopher and urbanist Paul Virilio as well as to a live discussion with the astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré on the Mir space station.
A Multifaceted Artist
Since the middle of the 1950s, Jean Giraud has developed a variety of styles, from the detailed realism of Blueberry, to the dreamlike drawings of Arzach or 40 days dans le Désert B. He is particularly well-known for his extraordinarily refined and strangely metaphysical visions of the future with intricately designed spacecraft, crystalline landscapes, and hybrid creatures. Internationally recognized, his work has profoundly influenced the worlds of science fiction, animation, publicity, 3D imagery and video games for over thirty years. His drawings have also attracted the attention of great filmmakers who have asked him to collaborate on a number of films including Luc Besson’s 5th Element (Diva), James Cameron’s Abyss (undersea creatures), Steven Lisberger’s Tron (costumes), Ridley Scott’s Alien (costumes), and René Laloux’s Les Maîtres du temps (storyboard) among many others. A Shifting Artistic Identity Jean Giraud’s dual pseudonyms Gir and Moebius reflect his own shifting artistic identity. In the early sixties he began his collaboration with Jean-Michel Charlier, the chief editor of Pilote, and created Blueberry, signing this popular Western series “Gir”. At the same time, he published his first short comics in Hara-Kiri under the name Moebius after the German mathematician who first discovered the Moebius strip. Like this strip, whose two ends fold together to form a one-sided loop, the artist sees his identity as dual “Going from Giraud to Moebius, I twisted the strip, changed dimensions, I was the same and yet someone else. Moebius is the result of my duality.1” Gir and Moebius move between two distinct styles, two ways of viewing the world. Gir is the author of the classic Hollywood-style Western, Moebius explores the realm of science fiction. Gir follows the traditional narrative forms of comic strip art, Moebius, inspired by the non-linear writings of the author Raymond Roussel, transgresses conventional narrative to involve the reader in generating meaning.
Gir uses photography and film as his source to portray the Western landscape and its characters with baroque detail, Moebius employs techniques related to the surrealist dessin automatique, to create a world that is in constant flux.
Trance as a Creative Process
Metamorphosis is not only to be found in the shape-shifting forms within the artist’s work or his alternative identities, but is also an essential part of the artistic process he has defined over the years. Following his two trips to Mexico in 1955 and 1965, he would develop new perspectives on his work. It was in Mexico that he first encountered the infinite horizons and extraordinary natural forms of the Mexican desert that would become an important part of his drawings from Blueberry to Arzach. In Mexico, he would also discover the shamanic culture of Native Americans and experiment for the first and only time with hallucinogenic mushrooms. This powerful experience would lead him to consider the trance as a creative process—a technique that would allow him to explore the strange and fantastical and to defy, within his drawings, the rules of nature and verisimilitude. For Moebius, the state of trance also has the potential to bring about metamorphosis.
evolving Forms Throughout Moebius’ work run many stories of ever-changing bodies. In series such as Le Garage hermétique, Le Monde d’Edena or L’Incal, forms are porous and morph into one another: human, animal, plant, mineral, fuse and meld. Moebius’s metamorphoses include any number of incongruous disruptive mutations: people are petrified or disintegrate, men turn into women, the young become suddenly old, spaghetti-like forms or hideous protuberances invade the body. Moebius also explores the many processes that lead to transformation including his fascination for dreams, meditation and the transformative power of crystals.
Drawings, Paintings and Films
Realized in collaboration with Moebius Production, the exhibition at the Fondation Cartier will present original notebooks, comic boards and paintings as well as new, previously unpublished drawings. The exhibition will also feature two new films screened for the first time at the Fondation Cartier: a 3D animated film co-directed by Moebius and BUF Compagnie and based on his comic strip La Planète Encore as well as a 52-minute portrait of the artist realized specifically for the show by Damian Pettigrew and Olivier Gal. Through a spectacular exhibition design showcasing over 300 drawings, the visitor will be provided with an unprecedented opportunity to discover the work of a highly influential artist who has continuously pushed back the limits of form in search of new horizons.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1938, Jean Giraud (alias Moebius or Gir) is a legendary author and comic strip artist. In 1963, under the name Gir he and Jean-Michel Charlier, then director of Pilote, created the series Blueberry. Following the death of Charlier, Jean Giraud continued this series, which currently counts about thirty albums. As co-creator in 1975 of the magazine Métal Hurlant and the publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés, Jean Giraud developed the unique style which he signed Moebius, publishing such groundbreaking works as Arzach (1976) and Le Garage hermétique (1979) that revolutionized the art of comics. In 1980, he collaborated with Alexandro Jodorowsky on a new series L’Incal and later worked on numerous films. In 1997, he and his wife Isabelle founded the publishing house Moebius Production / Stardom where together they publish books including, most recently, volume six of the Inside Moebius series, which was released in January 2010. They also make prints and organize exhibitions of his work throughout the world.