JEAN JULLIEN JUXTAPOZ.COM (^) | 59
asked me to do until I showed more and more illustrative
work that had similar lines and character design. It was then
that clients started imagining that it could work too, that it
was the same idea, but expressed in slightly different ways.
We both grew up in very political households where we
would constantly speak about inequality in the world,
tolerance, socialism and idealism, but with a lot of humor
as well. I feel growing up in this environment gives you an
edge and helps you naturally grow a thought process for
great satirical and visual weaponry, right?
Most definitely. I feel lucky in that sense. Like you, I was also
exposed to a lot of great counter-culture, bande-dessinée
(the European equivalent to comic books) and satirical
magazines. That helped forge the idea that you could use
graphics to protest, to express your disapproval of things,
that there was a real practical use to image making. My
graphic education truly began with Evan Hecox and May 68
posters, where I saw the power of "damaged" imagery, be
it printed on wood and broken, or on paper and ripped. A
great image transcends damage and even gains in strength
by the stigma of its context. There's nothing more furious
and touching than a strong image that has lived and shows
it. The use of an image shows its power. We can quantify it
easily these days with social medias and this system based
on likes and shares. A good image will be used and will
travel, same as a good poster would have been printed and
reprinted and put on many walls.
We share a funny dilemma. Your dad and my mom were
both elected as left-wing mayors in their cities. And
now we are working for some of the biggest capitalist
companies! Did you dad ever give you shit for being a co-
conspirator of the socialist ideal?
Ha ha! No. My dad is a very open-minded and a wise
man. We talk about it at great length. We have the same
political ideas, more or less. He knows that I get involved
with socially motivated projects and charities, and that I
have boundaries for with whom I'll work. But it is a very
tricky situation we find ourselves in. It is important to have
principles and to follow your heart, but the world works
in such a way that the only way to be completely 100%
irreproachable in that regard would be to completely
ostracize ourselves from society. And, let's be honest, we
could pride ourselves in being better than everyone else
and in harmony with our beliefs, but would it really change
anything? I'd rather make some compromises and try to do
my best, like a lot of people.
It's the simple things: be tolerant, recycle, vote, get involved
with the community. It doesn't take a revolutionary leader
to start to change things; it takes a group of like-minded
people trying to work together to make things a bit better.
Sometimes I wonder whether I'd be happier just being an
artist, and living this glamorous bohemian lifestyle that
makes Picasso, Matisse and others so iconic. But I like the
challenge, complexity and duality of working in the real
world and having to compromise.
jeanjullien.com
above (from left)
Peace for Paris
2015
Holidays
2015
opposite
Cat
2012
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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