MOEBIUS : WORLDS
Notebooks, drawings, comic strips

Opening: Friday, 16th January, 7 PM, with Jean Giraud Moebius
Introduction: Andreas Knigge, publicist, Hamburg

Jean Giraud, alias Moebius, is a master draftsman. The 65-year-old Frenchman's reputation in the world of comics is undisputed. Since the '60s he has brought out over 25 albums. In the meantime these have been published internationally and repeatedly reprinted. Such strips as Blueberry (begun 1963), Arzach (1976), Hermetic Garage (1979), the Incal series (1981-1988), Le Monde d'Edena (1985-2001) and Silver Surfer (1988) have become classics of the bandes dessinés popularly regarded in France as the 'ninth art'. In addition, Jean Giraud has contributed substantially to the sets of numerous film productions, including Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979), Abyss (James Cameron, 1989), Time Masters (René Laloux, 1982), Willow (Ron Howard, 1988) and The Fifth Element (Luc Besson, 1997).

The draftsman's double - Moebius - still remains largely undiscovered by the art world. Dozens of hitherto unpublished notebooks, most of them small enough to fit into a jacket pocket, contain "drawings that are among the very best that this master has created" (Andreas Platthaus, Moebius Zeichenwelt, Die Andere Bibliothek, 2003). A selection of drawings from the notebooks was on show for the first time in the exhibition 1 Monde Réel at the Fondation Cartier in Paris 1999.

Now, at the Badischer Kunstverein for the first time, some 100 drawings from Moebius's notebooks are the heart of an extensive exhibition covering over 1000 square metres of floor space, a lively testimony to the variety of this draftsman's styles and pictorial worlds.

Besides the jewels of the notebooks, numerous original drawings, water colours and comic strips created by Moebius over four decades are also on display, as well as works from the series Abstractions to which he has repeatedly returned since the '60s. An entire room is devoted to the carnet 40 jours dans le désert B, brought out as a book by Moebius in 1999.

The exhibition also features Moebius's alter ego - the comic strips of Jean Giraud - with original sheets from Blueberry, Arzach, Hermetic Garage, L'Incal, Le Monde d'Edena and La Folle du Sacre Coeur. A film affords glimpses into the artist's working methods. In addition, Moebius's own work for films is accessible to the public in the form of DVD clips.

A publication to accompany the exhibition includes illustrations by Moebius together with texts on his narrative techniques (Andreas Platthaus), his work for films (Andreas Knigge) and responses to his work in the world of architecture (Gregor Eichinger).