“Making Art accessible to as many people as possible”

Serge Bloch, a world-renowned illustrator and long-time partner of the Michele Mariaud Gallery, is continuously generating innovative experiences and exploring new collaborations. Today we meet in his studio in Paris...

An interview by Isabelle Chabrat for Michele Mariaud.

Serge Bloch at his studio photo by Jacques Grison

Michele Mariaud Gallery: From the illustration of NY Times children's books to collaborations with Hermès, or theater posters, your work reaches very diverse audiences. Is this significant to you?

Serge Bloch: Of course, I have always found it interesting and important to work for the uninitiated, I want to open the world to art as opposed to closing it. For me, making theater posters is all about displaying art, literature, and poetry on the streets. We must make art accessible to as many people as possible!

When you met Michele Mariaud in 2006 and decided together to organize the first exhibition of your personal drawings, did you feel like a new door was being opened, specifically, one that allowed you free rein and more personal expression?

Serge Bloch: Michele surprised me when she first offered to set up an exhibit of my work in her gallery. I had never done a personal exhibition – I had never looked into it, so I had to ask myself ‘what happens when you hang your drawings on the walls’, what is their purpose, how will I present them, with or without a frame etc... I said to myself afterwards that it was like poetry, it remains a very open and very free discourse.

I’ve noticed many of your drawings often incorporate a collage technique, is it another dimension?

Serge Bloch: My work is primarily focused on strokes, I am an illustrator and I, therefore, work with the line, mainly in ink, the line functions like writing, and I have always liked the contrast that collage adds to a piece. Collage is extraordinary, an encounter between the objects that we glue – things that we have accumulated from months or years before, which have their own stories. Perhaps it’s something found on a subway platform in New York City, or in a shop in Barcelona that sells labels. It's an object with a past story that meets another past story to create something completely new and different. I think that there is real poetry in that. Right now I'm making collages combining pieces of text that amuse me, with bits of engravings that I cut out of an old fashion magazine. It's amazing, even by assembling them in a very random way, you can end up with an amusing narration.

**Don't expose yourself by a thread…** from “Le fil de la Vie” series

So, your drawings tell stories?

Serge Bloch: Yes, these are stories, but I like to leave the interpretation open to the viewer, like free narration. I also try to maintain a certain level of softness in my pieces, sometimes they can be a little more provocative or may contain more humor, but not too dark or aggressive. If I want to hang something up on your walls, I think it's interesting and important to think about how you will like to live with it.

**Sweet Kiss**
16 X 12”. Edition of 25. Printed on archival Canson rag pape. rGallery price: $700

Two key principles emerge from your work: poetry and humor. Would you say these values are important to you?

Serge Bloch: Humor is absolutely vital, it allows for freedom. Even in totalitarian regimes, humor is often present, because it is a method of survival. I have done exhibitions on laughter and found that this required slight adaptions, depending on the country I was presenting in. Humor allows us to make heavy subjects lighter, and light subjects heavier.

I use poetry in my exhibitions with Michele Mariaud Gallery because she has imagined a space where I can create and exhibit with complete freedom. Poetry is a bit above the written word, much like art, it can show images more vividly than narration, and that is what’s interesting. In regards to the poetry in MM Gallery, those were all original: I took those moments like a lab would, to test out new forms and new ideas.

This Feeling Of Happiness
10 X 8”. Original drawing & collage on paper. Gallery price $900

You work regularly with Hermès, could you tell us more about your last collaboration in 2022 in the magnificent Parisian boutique which was formerly a swimming pool?

Serge Bloch: The exhibition lasted three months and was centered around the theme of the Garden, and included installations throughout the store and in the windows. The exercise was quite impressive, it involved welcoming and presenting Hermès objects, which was a new style of collaboration. I am also starting to create objects for "Petit H", created from my drawings. These are limited edition objects made from salvaged materials – for example, reworking bags with defects to make “charms”. I also work with their silk buttons, leather, etc... In short, I have many exciting projects in progress, especially concerning the Rabbit, which will be the Chinese zodiac sign for the year 2023.