Moebius-transe-forme is an exhibition currently running at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, France by the “Fondation Cartier pour L'art Contemporain”. It is an exhibition devoted to the work of the renowned french comics artist Jean Giraud, also known more famously as “Moebius” and to a certain extent also as “Gir”.
“From October 12, 2010 through March 13, 2011 the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presents MOEBIUS-TRANSE-FORME, the first major exhibition in Paris devoted to the work of Jean Giraud, known by his pseudonyms Gir and Mœbius. An icon of incomparable stature in the world of comics, an inventor of extraordinary forms and a brilliant cartoonist, Mœbius is an artist who goes beyond the traditional boundaries of the discipline. Following the artist’s wishes, this exhibition explores the theme of metamorphosis, a leitmotif that runs throughout his comics, drawings, and film projects. In relation to this theme, the exhibition also presents the first 3-D animated film directed by the artist, La Planète encore, along with the stories from the original comic boards. With landscapes and characters in perpetual transformation, his drawings explore the boundaries of the unconscious and reveal an imaginary and fantastic world. Through often sudden and disturbing metamorphoses of a character or a setting, Mœbius reveals a world where appearances are not as stable as they may seem.” - from the fondation.cartier.com/
The collection showcases work by the artist from his early days to his more progressive and boundary breaking work. It includes a large collection of notebook sketches, comic panels, paintings, unpublished drawings as well as an animated film.
In France, french comic books are held in high regard as a great art form. This is unlike the US where the superhero medium dominates graphic narratives and is mostly seen as for children by many. French comics are similar in genre to the UK scene which is seen as predominatly Sci-Fi and Fantasy based.
Giraud is worthy of note as he is seen to have broken traditional boundraries in his medium throughput his career. For instance, he is one of the few artists who include a character of themselves in their work. This is seen in “Inside Moebius”.
Giraud's style is difficult to define as he changes it based around the character or piece he is working on. His early work in “Adventures du lieutenant Blueberry” show extreme realism while more recent work has a dream like style. The character of Blueberry is very popular and Giraud has been criticised throughout his career for changing the tone and style of this character's story at various points. This is some what ironic as when he first created the character, he made a point to create a style that was completley different to what was considered contemporary at the time.
Traditionally, Giraud draws and paints his work but in recent years he has created work digitally from beginning to end as well. He draws very quickly.
Working in the comics medium since the 60's, Giraud has also worked on many film developments, most notably "Alien", the original "Tron" and "The Abyss". He is also a good friend of the Japanese animated movie maker Hayao Miyazakai.
I found Giraud interesting for the various styles he has implemented throughout his career, how he has created work both traditionally and digitally and the fact that he's worked in different mediums aswell. I particularly liked, however, the interesting way his work is represented in the Moebius-Transe-Forme exhibition. Metamorphosis is a recurring theme in Giraud's career and this a major theme of the exhibition. The work is presented in a variety of forms, from actual sketches in notebooks, to images presented on monitor screens, an animated film “la Planète Encor”, paintings and also massive wall length screens displaying single impressive images each.
Image from “la Planète Encor”:
Giraud at work:
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