Monday, February 28, 2011

Érik Desmazières

Érik Desmazières is a French artist and printmaker, born 1948, whose existence I just discovered last month. I liked what I was able to find of his work online so much that I ordered, as a birthday present to myself, a copy of the catalog of a major exhibition of his work (Imaginary Places, 2007). It is full of wonders.

Desmazières' most famous work seems to be a series of illustrations he did for Borges' story of the infinite library (above). These represent a major category of his work, precise renderings of imaginary buildings and cities, often with repeating motifs that create hypnotic effects. I like many of these, although some of them look like imitations of Escher.

I like other categories of his work even better. He has done a series of drawings of Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities (top, click to enlarge) that I find marvelous, ghostly pirate ships, fantastic landscapes, demonic masked balls, and many other things. I recommend his work highly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ever heard of Philippe Mohlitz ? He's french too. You might enjoy his work.