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Friday, December 12, 2008

Artist Christophe Jannin (website - articles - profile), has been dwelling quite a bit in the Heaven's as well in the Hell's with his latest sets of exquisitely drawn Bear pieces. The last time we mentioned Christophe's work, he had finished his ArchAngel triptych; a set of heroic and mightiest angels who look over the meek while eating the powerful... yet now he has gone to the dark side with his latest drawings of Faust (drawing) and Mephisto (drawing).

The following is from Christophe. It's all about Faust, yet to read about Mephisto, check out his blog (in French): "Here comes 'Faust' ~ this doctor who wanted to have his youth back and a sexual life which he really missed during all his life, made an agreement with Mephisto, the Devil in person. He has been damned for that! In this drawing, which is strongly darker than the 3 others I did before (the ArchAngels), the decorative frame is important because it enhances the symbolism. Faust is standing up on a profile view, wearing black leather and a long red cloak. The leather clothes (chaps, jock strap, braces, vest) are a reminder of the exaggerated sexuality, the red of the cloak evokes the flames in hell, and you can see some crowns of stars embroidered saying that the damnation is not coming from the human kind. In the back, toads with red eyes are crawling from the bottom, Hell. They are the symbol of absolute evil. In the decorative frame they are present too, as a crown, with their tadpoles. There are also apple tree branches, 'malus' in Latin, 'evil' in English. On the top, some pohutukawa flowers reminding with their red colour the symbol of Hell and a hint about the country where I am living: New Zealand".

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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Here is the 3rd and final installment to Christophe Jannin's triptych of ArchAngels (blog - articles - profile - website). It is St. Raphael who has the ribbon 'contraria contrario curantur' which signifies 'the opposites are healing the opposites". This drawing is symbolizing healing and self improvement.

What I need to do is post the emails that Christophe has sent me. They go into a lot more details about the semiotics concerning these 3 archangels (St. Raphael - St. Michael and St. Gabriel). I'll do that in the next update. Also, Christophe said he's not done drawing angels. He's working on others however these 3 make up the triptych. I'll keep you informed about his 'holy' drawings as he sends them in.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

This is the 2nd installment to Christophe Jannin's triptych with ArchAngels as his theme (drawing). In the 1st installment, we saw his St. Michael, sword in hand fighting the powerful for the sake of the weak. In this update, we get to see his St. Gabriel with a ribbon reading 'corruptio optimi pessima' which translates as 'the corruption of the best is the worst of all'; He's here to protect the innocent from the corrupt (I would love to have a guardian angel that looked like him).

Now for all the links concerning Christophe - blog (French), articles, profile, website (in construction) and some pics (photo #1, photo #2, photo #3).

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Monday, October 13, 2008

Christophe Jannin's (profile) work has been getting more and more intricate with time and his drawings more detailed and rich with life and colour, all the while holding true to his Bearish roots.

His latest project is quite angelic, literally. Chris has been drawing an Archangel triptych with Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, and the 1st one for us to see is that of Michael (view here). On it reads "Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos" which means "Spare the weak, crush the powerful", a direct reference to what St. Michael's nature signifies.

We will post the other 2 from this set very soon, however make sure to visit his site and read his blog (in French) which goes into much more detail about these wonderful vivid drawings of his. And if you're French is a bit rusty, then join his mailing list and he'll send you these new drawings to you in your email and in English as well. Also take a look at past articles written of him. Chris is seriously one of the cutest artists alive, yes?