'Killing
time'. It's a strange concept really, isn't it? - when every second,
minute and hour dies of its own accord without our help. Usually it
flies, and we take great pains to save
it. But anyway, in spite of being a life-long pacifist, I was fortunate to find myself in the fairly unusual position of having a little time to
kill the other day. I chose a popular weapon – an internet connection.
The minutes soon expired as I searched for something and then
happily lost myself in it; I was looking for the work of an
illustrator I hadn't thought about in a while and whose name I'd
forgotten. All I could recall was that he was French, or was it
Belgian? and that his children's book illustrations were popular in
the '60s and '70s. It didn't take long for me to find him – Alain
Grée. (He is French.)
For
me, Alain Grée's illustrations provide a perfect tonic at this time
of year. Winter's dragging on and we've hit that point when it's just
thoroughly boring now and the hopeful journey towards Spring seems to
be taking forever. Art always gives me a boost. This kind of art
may look 'simple' but the ability to pare back so
effectively takes a huge amount of skill; the bold colours and shapes
are just
right and
with no need for outlines or overly fussy detail. Distilling the
complexities of reality into blocks of colour and naïve form whilst retaining real interest and character is something I'm forever trying to master. And his compositions are so
aesthetically pleasing - gorgeous examples of the graphic style of
their era which work for me on a nostalgic level as well as an
artistic one.
A
number of Alain Grée's educational children's books with their
original '60s and '70s illustrations have been reprinted in recent
years and their popularity continues.
I could happily kill time with him any
day.
