"MASK" by Marc Majewski
Marc Majewski was born on April 15th 1993 in France. As a child he discovered a passion for drawing and painting through the pictures of Gustave Doré, Quentin Blake, Maurice Sendak, symbolist painters, that made him quickly decide that he would be an illustrator. After obtaining a degree in Literature and Arts, he entered the Pivaut school where he studied illustration and painting. While in school, he worked with great artists such as Benjamin Lacombe and Marc Chalmé, who rooted his will to make picture books. In 2016 he published his first picture book, Un beau voyage, and since then Marc is still writing and illustrating books for children.
Beside his work as an illustrator, he started in 2017 a series of queer portraits, by taking pages from magazines and painting over them. What started as little bit of fun, turned into a real project when he decided to move to Berlin and get closer to the queer scene. His interest for genders, drag, fashion, photography but also painting, textures, colours, light and shapes lead him to question the portrait itself, in both political and pictural perspectives. The almost realistic and binary portraits of the beginning transformed through the months, and got more and more deconstructed and genderless. The idea of beauty and masculinity on the magazine’s page is being changed, covered and coloured. The models are turned into masks, drag queens, creatures, silhouettes, monsters, shapes, areas of colours, lights and shadows. They appear to portray modern and strangef fairy tales.
Marc’s main goal as an artist is to build bridges between his queer vision and picture books. To show to the people and the children new characters and drag queens. To tell them new stories, cities tales and extend their imagination and possibilities of being. “I said anything I wanted because I don't believe in children I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation. 'Oh you mustn't tell them that. You mustn't tell them that.' You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true you tell them.” Maurice Sendak
He lives and works in Berlin
Books :
Un beau voyage, Le buveur d'encre, 2016
Une histoire, Le buveur d'encre, 2017
Frileux, l'ours qui n'aimait pas l'hiver, Sarbacane, 2018 Les mots peints, L'école des loisirs, 2019
( Portraitphoto of the artist by Sven Serkis )
