Emmanuel Polanco

A fairly brief post today, about French illustrator and collagist Emmanuel Polanco. I don’t know much about Polanco, except that he’s based in Paris and has been crafting his peculiar, nostalgic pieces of art for the last eight years or so. His is an odd, macabre world of disconnected figures, and allusive symbols and marks, using muted tones and aged papers. The images are like strange old family portraits, discovered in a box in the dusty attic of a distant, eccentric uncle. His work reminds me of some of the collages of Hannah Hoch and Max Ernst - although Polanco’s images are less aggressive and more wistful than the Dadaists’ pieces. The vitrines and collections of Joseph Cornell also seem influential, and his more commercial work – book covers, for instance  - has hints of some of Saul Bass’s iconic work. 

Examples of work by Hannah Hoch, Max Ernst and Joseph Cornell

From the series 'Lune'

From the series 'Poe' for the US Postal Service

An illustration for CSO magazine

From the series  'Tarot of Marseille'

From the series 'Tarot of Marseille'

From the series 'Tarot of Marseille'

From the series 'Tarot of Marseille'

An illustration for 'Milk'

From the series 'Costumes'

From the series 'Lune'

From the series 'Square'

'Moby Dick' book cover

'Macbeth' book cover

'Remember'

All images © Emmanuel Polcano