BAR2

BAR2 JOE BAR TEAM Volume 1, Vents d'Ouest, 1990 L'Ange de la route, original plate no. 23, prepublished in Moto Journal 1989-1990. Signed. India ink and white gouache on paper 37 × 41.2 cm (14.57 × 16.22 in.) This story teaches us two things. The first is that you should always make sure you've extracted your keys from your blue jeans before donning and carefully caulking your rain suit; the second is that, if we are to believe Édouard's thoughts, some bikers are convinced that the mere fact of owning a big motorcycle will win them the sympathy of the female sex. Illusion or reality? What does Bar2 think? "All I can say is that, in 1978, when I showed up for the first time in front of my high school on the Z 650 I'd just bought myself thanks to my drawings for the newspaper Plein Pot, I had the distinct feeling that the girls at school suddenly looked at me differently. These confidences aside, I'm a little surprised you didn't ask me about the fact that, in this panel, we see that at least one member of the "Team" owns a car. An old R10, in this case. And if I've avoided drawing a sportier or more rewarding car, it's so that the reader understands that my bikers have no passion for cars, and that if one of them has stooped to buying one, it's for purely utilitarian purposes. Otherwise, my most fundamentalist biker fans would undoubtedly have accused me of high treason. Which would have devastated me."