La gerbe de Mr. Seguin… the underground comic transplanted by Sigmar Polke, appeared in the French magazine Actuel. Jean Rouzaud, who was in part responsible for the magazine's layout, created the story. The photographer, writer, and filmmaker acted as a member of Bazooka, a collective of graphic artists, from 1974 to 1976. Obviously, Polke did not afford the same attention and care to the comics quoted in any of the other tableaux in the Petty Bourgeois series: he celebrates Rouzaud’s comic strip by completely altering the color values, using a gold ground, and enlarging his found footage to the format of a history painting. At the same time, the bande dessinée is liberated from its strict grid and converted from a vertical to a horizontal format. In the process, the artist compressed the obsessive detail of his source, dropped the speech balloons in French, reduced several of the image frames to a few elements, and left out others entirely. Moreover, some figures are not on the straight and narrow anymore: Now, in the chaos created, they dance and whirlpast the borders indicated by the support and join gestural waves of color and vibrating patterns, offering alternative readings beyond the usual order. With its magical notes and its comic book onomatopoetic sounds, Pill alludes to synaesthetic perception, which the intense colors of the layout of Actuel like the San Francisco-based magazine Oracle that was sometimes perfumed were supposed to evoke, reinforced by taking mind-expanding substances. Pill - Toile 2m x 3m. 1976. Extrait du catalogue "We petty bourgeois !" de Sigmar Polke. 2011. Épuisé* BD extraite d'Actuel n°39. Février 1974. Mensuel 4 Francs. Épuisé*

Suite à ma « rencontre » avec les New York Dolls, dans un bar et un concert privé, puis au show au Bataclan, j’ai fait ce dessin détaillé de mémoire, sans connaître le nom des gens : de gauche à droite , Malcolm Mac laren et Vivienne Westwood ( à ce moment là en plein trip fifties- Rockabilly),une créature rétro , puis entre deux travestis ( Glam Rock et Gipsy) Pierre Benain ( qui se baladait en chemise dentelle, cuissarde orange et collant violet), au milieu de profil Jean Pierre Kalfon ( décadent en collant et haut à paillettes avec son groupe glam). Et sur scène les Dolls : un inconnu au sifflet, Sylvain Sylvain, David Johansen , Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, et Arthur Kane…  Dessin tiré de Actuel. N°38. Janvier 1974. Mensuel 4 francs. Couverture : J’ai fait ce collage fantaisie avec typographies, style pop glam psyché. La photo est tirée de « Idols » de Gilles Larrain (portraits des premiers travestis new yorkais décadents. )

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