http://comixart.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/jacques-de-loustal/   I first saw artwork by Jacques de Loustal at one of the Comics Brew exhibitions in Cape Town, a few years back. Alongside his comic book work, he is renowned for his travel journals, and his richly coloured scenes of exotic locales stuck in my mind. A few months ago, an official in the French Embassy, Guy de la Chevallerie, got in touch with me to tell me about an exciting Loustal travel journal project to be hosted as part of the French Season, to be held in SA in the second half of 2012. The first part of this project, he told me, would involve Loustal coming to South Africa for a couple of weeks in 2010 to make a travel journal about his visit. This would then be published and launched next year as part of the French season in SA. Great, I replied. Why doesn’t he participate in our Co/Mix exhibition, which we were at that moment planning. And so it came to be. Loustal is such an incredibly high-profile, busy artist that we haven’t as yet had personal contact with him, but what is obvious from the numerous blog posts about him is that he seems to travel more or less non-stop, making art and being celebrated wherever he goes. Here’s some info about him, gleaned from various online sources. Born in Neuilly, a suburb of Paris, in 1956, Loustal got involved in illustrating rock & folk ‘zines and posters while an architecture student in the early ‘70s. He became friends with the writer Philippe Paringaux, and they began working as an artist/writer team on comic projects. At around that time Paringaux and Loustal started producing comics for Métal Hurlant (Screaming Metal), the French adult comic magazine specialising in weird SF and horror, sex and existentialism. Launched in 1974, and created by a collective of avant garde comic artists known as Les Humanoïdes Associés (United Humanoids), including Jean Giraud (better known as Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet, Métal Hurlant was very much the ‘in’ ‘zine on the French BD scene in those days. In 1977, Métal Hurlant arrived in the English-speaking world as Heavy Metal. (Sadly, the version that exists today is a miserable shadow of the original mag of the late ‘70s and 80s.) From 1984 Loustal became a frequent contributor to the monthly À Suivre, for which he created ‘Coeurs de Sable’, ‘Barney et la Note Bleue’, ‘Un Jeune Homme Romantique’ and ‘Kid Congo’. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he published numerous albums in which his work was collected. Loustal describes himself as ‘an obsessive traveller’ and has traveled widely in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, recording his adventures in a succession of travel journals. Besides comics, Loustal has also had an extensive career in illustration. His Co/Mix contribution consists of 12 small original drawings, in pen and ink and colour, documenting scenes and moments from his travels around the world. He will be visiting Cape Town and Grahamstown from 25 June until early July. Stay tuned to this blog for opportunties to meet the great BD maestro!