Romance
Blexbolex is a French illustrator and printmaker, who lives and works in Germany. He is internationally known for his posters, picture books and silk-screens, for which he uses different techniques and narratives. His experimental work is labelled as "vintage design", and characterized by its clear colors, smooth lines and repetitive motives. He ranks artists like Hergé, Joost Swarte and Dick Bruna among his favorites, while the alternative magazines Métal Hurlant and Art Spiegelman's RAW have also influenced him.
He was born as Bernard Granger in Douai in 1966, and spent his childhood in Aurillac in the Cantal department of France. He enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in Angoulême in 1984, and then at the ENSATT École de la rue Blanche in Lyon in 1987, but broke off both studies. He returned to the Angoulême school in 1989, after fulfilling his military service. With the ambition of becoming a painter, he stayed at the school until 1991. He then went to Paris, where he became a silkscreen artist in Jean-François Guilberteau's studio. Granger became known for his experimental way of working, as he mixed old printing methods with new techniques. His first book was titled 'XXX' and 50 copies were published in silk-screen format in 1992. More of these books followed, and the artist started using the pseudonym Blexbolex.
L'Oeil Privé
As a comic artist, he first came to the attention after joining the comics group Le Dernier Cri from Marseille and the magazine of the same name in 1994. He published a couple of albums under the Dernier Cri imprint, such as the illustration book 'Pet Eyes' (1995), while also working on an animated series inspired by one of his characters. He joined Jean-Louis Gauthey in his publishing label Cornélius in 1997 and released two books under the publisher's Chacal Puant imprint in 1997. As the responsible editor of the collection Lucette and the creator of the collection Louise at Cornélius, he has worked with such authors as David Sandlin, Richard MacGuire, Dupuy & Berberian and Petit-Roulet. His own pantomime comic book 'L'Enclos' was also published in the latter collection in 2000. Blexbolex was also art director at the publishing house CBO from 1998, and participated in the magazines Nozone and Strapazine.
La Longue-vue
He contributed to the massive 'Comix 2000' anthology by L'Association, and to the alternative art comic magazine Feraille Illustré. Les Requins Marteaux released his book 'L'Oeil Privé' (2006), a partially improvized parody of pulp crime novels. His next book for this publisher was also a detective one-shot: 'Destination Abecederia' (2008). For the publisher Éditions Thierry Magnier he made pocket comic books like 'La Longue-vue' (2006) and 'Peindre' (2007), while he continued to publish art books with Cornélius, such as 'Crimechien (2012) and 'Hors-zone' (2012). He contributed a short story about Jerry Lee Lewis and his song 'Money' to the collective book 'Rock Strips Come Back' (Flammerion, 2011). He was associated with the OuBaPo movement, a group of comic artists who explore the boundaries of the comics medium. Other prominent members of this movement are François Ayroles, Patrice Killoffer, Étienne Lécroart, Jean-Christophe Menu and Lewis Trondheim.
Destination Abecederia
Blexbolex has lived in Germany since 2008, first in Berlin and then in Leipzig. He is a teacher at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee, and also gives workshops. Although most of his assignments still come from France, he has also designed a new series of "Neuer Leipziger Bilderbogen" prints. He has illustrated children's books for publishers like Le Seuil ('Rogaton Man' by Frau Mental, 2001), Albin Michel Jeunesse ('Les Petites Malices de Nasreddine' by Jihad Darwiche, 2005) and Oskar ('L'Oncle Américain d'Achille Pellisson' by Didier Lévy, 2006). He is the author of the award-winning and critically acclaimed children's picture book trilogy 'L'Imagier Des Gens' ('People', 2008), 'Saisons' ('Seasons', 2010) and 'Romance' ('Ballad', 2014) at Albin Michel Jeunesse. These books have been translated to English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, German and Czech. His illustrations have also appeared in such magazines as The New York Times, Le Monde and The Ganzfeld.
Peindre