CYBER KIDS

Amazons, cyborgs, trolls, barbarians, mutants, fighters, Latino gangs, invaders, wrestlers, riders, zombies, etc. Pol-Edouard obsessively recycles all the B (even Z) series imagery of his youth into testosterone-boosted drawings. Hypertrophied muscles ooze, omnipresent weapons shine, light sources explode from everywhere, the brawl is never far away.

Pol-Edouard develops outrageous visuals without ever falling into an outdated mannerism. He pushes the limits of bad taste to the max, between hand-painted posters of Ghana and interpretations that are both naive and hyper-mastered, while avoiding parody or frontal fan art. His work stands precisely in this in-between. A sincere and nostalgic rendition of pure American entertainment products, from fight and shotguns video games to badass action films, science fiction or heroic fantasy. But never devoid of second degree.

The ultra-referenced images of the 1980s and 1990s, and their fantasized and apocalyptic visions of the near future, resonate strangely with our era. Bodies, nature, architecture, and technology seem to be pushed to their limits, at the limit of the grotesque. The ironic discrepancy between these obsolete retro-futuristic worlds and ours may make you smile at first glance. We then realize that reality has surpassed fiction (or has fiction inspired reality?) on many levels and that the warrior metaphor remains more relevant than ever.