L'étreinte

The multi-talented Laurent Bonneau is a writer and illustrator of comic strips, painter and video artist. Whether he is working with high-profile comics writers such as Zidrou or focusing on projects of his own - projects that take us to far-flung places, chronicle our social ills or delve into the inner workings of the mind - Bonneau is for ever changing direction, stylistically speaking, surprising his readers at every turn.

This inventiveness is abundantly apparent in two very different albums published in 2021. L'Étreinte - written by Jim and illustrated by Bonneau - is constructed around the discovery of a photograph of a woman on a beach, seen from the back with her hands behind her head. A man seeks to establish the identity of this mysterious swimmer - while simultaneously trying to reconstruct his own in the wake of a recent trauma. L'Étreinte communicates the bitter-sweet emotions associated with loving another human being, while inducing something similar in the reader-cum-spectator, who cannot help but be caught up in this powerful narrative and blown away by the graphics - these terrific pencil drawings by Bonneau with their touches of colour, their soft pinks, blues, sandy browns?

Written and illustrated by Bonneau, Le regard d'un père takes a sensitive look at the notion of fatherhood through the introspective musings of a young parent. Using soft lead pencil and a collage technique - a combination of drawing, painting and photography - the artist pays careful attention to the atmosphere of each particular scene, which may be light, or may be dark, depending on the emotions of his characters.

In addition to original plates from these two albums, the Huberty & Breyne Gallery is delighted to be showing a new selection of illustrations of Brussels that admirably demonstrate Laurent Bonneau's manifold talents.

Works available to view online from Friday 4 March 2022.