N.H.

The emerging Parisian illustrator and graphic designer invites The Style Report into his surreal and wonderful world.

This article was originally published on MATCHESFASHION.COM.

Graphic designer Jeremy Piningre truly embodies his work, which is surreal, enigmatic and draws upon a smorgasbord of obscure references, from Hans Arp sculptures to pop culture. The Parisian illustrator’s art is as prolific as it is contextual, spanning zines, album covers (for the likes of Sexy Sushi and Juliette Armanet) and even sculptures, all characterised by design tropes seen in comic books but with macabre, unexpected twists. He depicts oddball romances, voyeuristic sub-characters and tongue-in-cheek phrases via graphic line drawings that play with perspective.

What ignited his love for drawing? ‘[My inspiration came] somewhere between a Magritte painting made by my cousin Céline and Petit-Bleu et Petit-Jaune, an abstract children’s book by Leo Lionni,’ he says, answering the interview questions cryptically until we settle on the subject of favourite artists. He has a list of many – 20, to be exact – including Canadian painter Sojourner Truth Parsons, Acacio Ortas, known for his 1990s-style hand drawings, installation artist Camille Blatrix, iconic illustrator Edward Gorey, and the Chicago Imagists, whose Surrealist-meets-comic art has clearly made an impression on Piningre.

Like his favourite artists, Piningre makes art that disrupts. He’s currently working with long-time collaborator Théo Mercier on an exhibition that features a huge wall filled with war masks, due to show at Mexico City’s Museo Experimental El Eco next year. He’s also penning a new comic with Mathieu Lefèvre as the long-awaited follow-up to their co-authored zine, Tonic. And did we mention he DJs, too? ‘I have a radio show named Club Medieval on Hotel Radio every month,’ he says. ‘I invite musicians to play their favourite song in a medieval way.’

What is the best piece of advice that he has been given? ‘Just do it’, he quips. ‘I saw it on a T-shirt when I was a child and it changed my life.’ Humour aside, Piningre seems to have followed this mantra. We ask him to name his biggest luxury. ‘Sorry for this answer,’ he prefaces, ‘But… my way of life! Having time for friends, love and drawing.’

You could never accuse Piningre of being predictable, although he adopts a uniform approach to dressing. He’s rarely seen without his trademark baseball cap, round-framed glasses and a pairing of T-shirt and jeans; although simple, this combination has a stylised quality not dissimilar to his illustrated characters. When it comes to treasured possessions, he favours ceramics and art over clothes. ‘I own art pieces by my friends, which I love.’

See Jeremy Piningre's work at piningrestudio.com