A collection of works by French artist Jean Jullien.
This book is the first chapter of an artistic journey that unfolds as the artist makes a stopover at the Galerie Masurel in Lyon, France.
This journey through paintings, charged with profound emotional layers, begins in the Bigouden region of Brittany. The land to which the artist feels a deep affection takes shape in his paintings through colour and natural elements. The journey continues along the Mediterranean coast through France, Italy, and Greece, until the sea becomes a screen projecting an imaginary world that shares forms of knowledge and mythology.
As the pages turn, the narrative heads towards a symbolic “elsewhere.” References to ancient Greece and its civilisation emerge, serving as a foundation for the artist to connect past and present.
The book features an experimental design that juxtaposes displays of paintings inspired by the Mediterranean with the artist’s sketchbook. Moving between reproductions of sketchbook pages and paintings, the reader travels through the book alongside the artist, exploring the worlds he encounters, contemplates, and imagines.
A conversation with French curator, journalist, and publisher Martin Bethenod is included at the end, exploring the artist’s interests and methods through the relationship between drawing and painting.
“Mermed” is the first chapter of an artistic odyssey which sees Jean Jullien make a stopover at the Galerie Masurel.
Moving between reproductions of sketchbook pages and paintings, we travel through the pages of the book in the company of the artist and his interpretations of the worlds he discovers, contemplates or dreams up.
A discussion with Martin Bethenod provides an insight into the artist’s interests and methods, in particular the link between drawing and painting in his work.
Charged with a profound emotional dimension, his paintings’ itinerary starts out in the Bigouden region. It is these lands that the artists holds dear which take shape here through their palette of colours and their natural elements. The journey continues along the coast of the Mediterranean, through France, Italy and Greece. The sea gradually becomes a projection screen for an imaginary world of shared forms of knowledge and mythology.
As we continue on our way, we strike out towards a symbolic elsewhere. We can make out references to ancient Greece and its civilisation, which Jean Jullien draws on to connect past and present.
