Blexbolex, an illustrator from the Auvergne on the 2014 National Jury

Blexbolex is a French illustrator who was born in 1966, in Douai, in the north of France, and who grew up in the Cantal region of the Auvergne. In 1991, he received his degree from the National School of Fine Arts of Angoulême. In 1992, he became a silkscreen printer and began printing and publishing his own books on the underground circuit. He then worked as an illustrator for Nova Magazine, published by Radio Nova, then for the publishing house Éditions Cornélius, first as a silkscreen printer, then as a colorist and graphic designer, and finally as an assistant publisher.

Since 2005, he has worked as a free-lance writer and illustrator of children’s books, comic books and books for adults. In 2011, he became an associate publisher of the Neuer Leipziger Bilderbogen.

Blexbolex’s style is characterized by the use of simplified forms and stark colors in flat tints, an aesthetic that is broadly inspired by the methods of production used in silkscreening, which was Blexbolex’s preferred medium for many years. In the beginning, most of his influences were American, with the notable exception of the illustrator Hergé. Meeting the multi-media artist Richard McGuire played a determining role in shaping his outlook. The conceptual and written parts of his works draw more heavily on films and cartoons, and tend to favor narration and semantic games over pure ideas.