Kerascoët: Jolies Ténèbres

Dust jacket for the book. Links to a Youtube simple ad for it.

Compelling and terrifying. Not for the faint of heart or for kids. "Don't be fooled by the cuteness," Sebastien warns me over dinner when we were in Paris for our show. I wondered about that for while until I got back to my hotel. I leafed through it. I can't read french, mind you, but the images are enough to get a sense of what's going on. This book found the edge where it becomes dangerous and runs past it full speed. I am humbled by what Kerascoet--Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset--along with writer Fabien Vehlmann have unleashed on an unsuspecting public.


Myself and Sébastien Cosset at the Arludik show for Three Trees in Paris. He hands me his only advance copy of this book the publishers sent him. That was such an honor.

I cannot talk about this book more. I came back to work talking as if I'd gone to a haunted island. I had to see the faces of each one who was intrigued enough to peel pages back one at a time. The look of sheer admiration for the artistry but soon after a wincing at the unexpected. I am having a good time--I must have looked just like that.



We met with Dupuis, the publisher of Jolies Ténèbres, and got to talk to Sergio Honorez (Head of Publishing) about this book which is just about to come out this month. He says that once he saw the book proposal he just knew, "We have to publish this." Kerascoet is also published at Dargaud for Mis Pas Touche, a book I've mention in this blog before. In France artists can have as many different publishers for any one artist. Neat, eh?



If you look at the work it is astoundingly beautiful. I put in a reservation to grab this page at Galerie 9 art. And if you're not careful you'll find even more stuff all over that website.



I love finding stuff to rave about and even more gratifying is to meet these wonderful creators (Marie was not well during our visit but next time). That trip to Paris and Angoulême was so amazing. I'm hoping it won't be too long before we find ourselves back there again. If only to grab more books. Sigh.


Kerascoet
Dupuis
Galerie9art.com for Kerascoet

Miss Pas Touche by Kerascoët

An artist's name is sometimes all you have to go on. In these google days one is just several clicks away from finding people. Well in this case, "people" is right. Turns out that Kerascoët is not the name of an artist but TWO artists. Namely, Marie Pommepuy and Sébastien Cosset. The choice became necessary when their collaboration was faced with signing both their names (a CD, Anita O' Day) and possibly taking up much of the cover. So, they decided on naming themselves after Marie's parent's village in Brittany.



How did I come to be digging up the goods on these two? Well, I came across this book online, "Miss Pas Touche" and was enchanted by the cover. I found the above mentioned mysterious name and came around to the their website. Man, oh, man, what a treat that was. Now, I really gotta get my hands on that book. I raved about it with Bill Presing and he was similarly struck. He wasn't as lazy as I and found that Amazon Canada had a listing for it. The book arrived and it is every bit as gorgeous as the cover and website portended it to be.



Above panels cropped from the twelve (count 'em) panel layout of your regular bande dessinée album. And there's rather racy panels that give away story. See, I'm watching out for you.

So, I'm obsessed (thought of stealing Bill's copy but he may not like that) and so I ordered it. Can't wait to have my very own copy. Still can't read french, but what the heck, eh?

Kerascoët website.

France Wikipedia entry on Kerascoet.

Les Kerascoët on auracan.com.


Oh, by the way, there's a connection between Joan Sfar of the post below and this dynamic duo. Guess? Okay, check this out. NOTE: Although it's a music video, drawn and quite charming, it is not for kids. Be judicious.