MALLIÉ - Lot 15

MALLIÉ VINCENT MALLIÉ TÉNÉBREUSE Livre Second (T.2), Dupuis 2022 Original plate no. 58. Signed. India ink and white gouache on paper 37 × 50 cm (14.57 × 19.69 in.) "This plate mixes the epic and the abstract. I wanted to show the emotion surrounding the death of the hero's squire in a major war scene. Arzhur stands beside his dying friend, and I wanted to accentuate the distortion of time in this moment when nothing else exists for him. The script indicated that they were talking while all around them the fighting continued. If I'd drawn the set with bloody scenes while they were exchanging very intense words, it would have extinguished the emotional charge of the moment. If this scene had been handled by the Kerascoëts, it would have worked, because there's a naivety in their drawing that allows this kind of telescoping. But not here. My drawing is too realistic. I chose to cheat and, as in films where the setting suddenly no longer exists, I depicted them alone in the world. The second part of the panel marks the return to chaos and fury.