Juxtapoz Journal – A Not So Mid-Life Disaster Present: 5 Questions with Jean Jullien on His First European Museum Present @ MIMA, Brussels

There are some fairly fantastic turns of phrase in my dialog with Jean Jullien final week. Issues like “de-zooming” and “managing consideration” or “development in distance.” I like all of those methods of occupied with pondering and occupied with the works of Jean Jullien, as he has spent a profession in fantastic artwork, design, illustration and set up works the place he’s each making a distance for which the viewer can see an expanse of the world but additionally a nuanced and detailed scope of how our private lives can interconnect. Jullien simply opened STUDIOLO, his first solo European museum exhibition, now on at MIMA in Brussels, and on that event, we thought it could be good to sit down down with certainly one of our favourite artists and perceive extra about what a de-zoom could appear like with regards to artwork. 

Evan Pricco: You appear to be getting an increasing number of snug about constructing an surroundings of a present, giving your paintings an additional world to reside in. When do you suppose you realized how necessary that was, and the way have you ever realized extra about exhibition design from it? 
Jean Jullien: I’ve all the time been fascinated by storytelling and the way a great story can seize your consideration. I did a number of one liners in illustration and progressively (by means of books, movies and gallery reveals) I managed to create extra devoted instances of consideration from the viewer. However with a present of this scale, you may actually articulate an surroundings round an concept and take the time to say what it’s a must to say in an immersive means. I believe managing the eye is an enormous notion for me. I wish to create an increasing number of moments and house devoted to narration.

What are you exhibiting at MIMA? Is that this purely a retrospective or do you might have new works? 
The work offered on the MIMA is completely new and the whole lot has been created for this present. It was necessary to me, given the platform that I used to be provided, to take effort and time to create a physique of labor that was coherent and articulated round a story. The present progresses in matter, house and time in a chapter-like means. We begin on the backside with a recap of what I’ve finished to this point and what led to the present (I joke that this is kind of a mid-life disaster present with reflections that come up if you’re at the moment of your life. A crossroad type of time). Then a graphic novel room  as a preamble, presenting what the present will likely be about. Then a mirrored image on childhood storytelling, adopted by a collection of portraits of mates, households and followers. A collection of on a regular basis work, just like the photographs we tackle our telephones, however painted. Upstairs begin with Nature on epic proportions, with a collection of big canvases depicting storms, sunsets and jungles.

This results in a set of surf work the place the wave is sort of occulted and the human factor is a tiny graphic punctuation right here and there within the format. Then is a examine of humanity and its thirst and worry of nature. The way it conquers it on the seaside with equipment and the way it tries to recreate a tailor-made and cozy model of the wild with parks and gardens. I even have a dialog with my mother about structure and the notion of house in addition to one with my father about city planning and the way our collective story is  only a gathering of particular person experiences. And to materialize this thought, that summarize the entire present: I created a 13m by almost 3m tall subjective and non exhaustive timeline that goes from the prehistoric period to a believable future. And this conclusion is my to be continued, exhibiting hints of a graphic language that’s extra about storytelling and sits on the fence between drawing and portray. The present gathers each sort of labor that I’ve finished and does and binds it right into a single apply, the place each device is used to inform the story.

There’s additionally a development in distance that I believe is attention-grabbing: it begins with the autobiographical self, then childhood, then the person, then that particular person gathered in a bunch, then that group in a context in on a regular basis scenes, then zooming even additional out in order that the context (nature) is the whole lot and the protagonists are decreased to a mere punctuation, then us as a bunch attempting to take care of that elegant context with the notion of civilisation and the act of taming/ dwelling with/in nature. And at last, the furthest de-zoom in time and house with a timeline encompassing humanity’s journey from beginnings to finish.

What has the transfer from London again to Paris finished for you and your work? 
It coincided with a number of life modifications: I had my first baby, I used to be getting bored with the quick tempo at which I used to be producing illustrations for business jobs and social media and I wished to gradual issues down total. I had simply found browsing and portray and felt like a change of decor can be useful. I do not suppose it was particularly London to Paris that mattered, extra the transfer from one time in life to a different.

I’ve all the time requested you this, however you might have such an outlined type as an illustrator and a very completely different and outlined type as a painter. Is it straightforward so that you can leap between the 2 kinds? 
I used to be reflecting on that earlier than the present and I suppose I assumed they had been completely different earlier than however the extra I paint and the extra the work affirms itself (to me at the very least), the extra I see it as similar to my drawing. The comb work is similar, it is simply “de-zoomed” so to talk. And extra suggestive reasonably than descriptive. The present on the MIMA is definitely a protracted reflection on that material and talks about it at nice size; what makes a bit of labor drawing and what makes it portray because it’s all finished with the identical instruments. However on the whole, I like taking part in with the notion of drawing and experimenting with it in numerous helps and supplies. It is by the multiplicity of trials that I get a type of overview and understanding of my apply: it is primarily based on the statement of a really advanced and various on a regular basis surroundings. It is solely becoming that the mediums used to inform these observations are various, too.

You all the time have these very private work, works that basically talk about household and reminiscence and this concept of time-off away from a hustle and bustle. What’s inspiring you lately? Are you continue to discovering time for your self to discover these works in a means that satisfies you? 
For positive. And as time passes, I like an increasing number of how they appear to be an ongoing abstract of 1’s life. I believe it is a good factor. However similar as after I began portray and it appeared like a departure from drawing (however it wasn’t), there are different topic issues I am excited to discover in portray. I suppose the present on the MIMA can also be a mirrored image on what I’m doing now, the place I’m in my “profession” and the way it pertains to the world round us. But it surely additionally introduces what I believe would be the subsequent step of my work. Based mostly on extra narrative work and an exploration of storytelling. The present in itself is organized like a semi narrative. There is a development within the house and the matter being mentioned. The ultimate room is one thing very completely different from something individuals have seen of my work to this point. It is a 13m by almost 3m tall timeline of the work mixing info and fictions.

Jean Jullien: STUDIOLO will likely be on view at MIMA in Brussels by means of December 31, 2023.