François Schuiten - Obscure cities (September 1989)

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8 September 1989

François Schuiten's exhibition in Galerie Lambiek included mainly the beautiful and colorful images of the book 'La route d'Armilia' and black and white pages from 'La fièvre d'Urbicande' and 'La tour'.

François Schuiten was born in Brussels in 1956, the son of two architects.

He studied at the Saint-Luc Institute where he met Claude Renard. Together, they created the comics 'Aux Médianes de Cymbiola' and 'Le Rail', as well as three volumes of '9ème Rêve'. François also collaborated with his brother Luc on the series 'Terres Creuses' which was published in Pilote magazine.

His final breakthrough into the mainstream of comics came with his transfer to Métal Hurlant magazine. In 1980, together with Benoît Peeters, he created the series 'Cités Obscures', in which his love of architecture is clearly visible.

The style/look of the 'Obscure cities' is rich and extremely detailed. Impressive are the enormous skyscrapers which are a hallmark of the cities. Every city thereover is based on an esthetic art movement, like the Art Nouveau in case of Xhystos and the Art Deco and the Bauhaus in case of Urbicande.

In 2002 François Schuiten was awarded the Grand Prix de la Ville d'Angoulême.