French artist and illustrator Marylou Faure, is the latest artist commissioned by the Montreux Jazz Festival to design the festival poster for its 55th edition, which will take place from 02 to 07 July 2021. Marylou Faure, who was a finalist in Montreux’s ‘Silent Shores’ competition launched in June 2020, joins a prestigious alumni of Montreux poster creators, including Keith Haring, David Bowie and Andy Warhol.
Inspired by French American sculptor and painter Niki de Saint Phalle and her friend, French illustrator Malika Favre, whom both created previous Montreux Jazz Festival posters, Marylou’s version is colourful, delicate and soothing. It is an invitation to an intimate musical experience one can expect at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
At the heart of the French artist’s work, her female characters are often revealed in intimate moments, without worrying about the gaze of others. They are comfortable in their own skin and totally free. Here in this poster, the woman drawn by Marylou Faure seems peaceful, lulled by a music that one imagines enveloping and full of colour. The geometrical shapes that surround her evoke the strings and curves of a double bass, the angle of a grand piano… unless it is the landscape of Montreux, its bay, mountains and blue sky?
I used the geometrical shapes of the instruments as a basis for composition. I like the idea of playing on the contrasts between the undulating elements of women with their curves and lips and more structured elements with straight lines and a frame.
Marylou Faure
In June 2020, the London-based artist was one of the 10 finalists in Montreux Jazz Festival’s ‘Silent Shores’ poster design competition. Based on the theme ‘A Summer without music in Montreux’, it was to mark the absence of the 2020 festival due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Her poster depicted a woman whose curves blended into the Alpine landscape and the shape of a double bass. It is this same character who is at the center of this year’s poster. Marylou Faure explains “She was on standby in 2020 and reveals a little more of her personality today”.
Since 1967, the festival has commissioned the world’s greatest artists to create its official poster. In 1982, Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely left his incredible mark and in 1983 Keith Haring created three versions of the poster, returning in 1986 to work with Andy Warhol on a joint collaboration. In 1995 David Bowie interpreted his version of the poster, as did Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid), Christian Marclay, Ignasi Monreal and more recently JR.
https://www.instagram.com/maryloufaure/
©2020 Marylou Faure, MONTREUX JAZZ FESTIVAL
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