Art Garage Features ‘The News According to Bonhomme’
COOPERSTOWN—The Art Garage celebrated the opening of its new show, “French Connection: The Political Art of Olivier Bonhomme,” on April 19. The exhibition features several dozen drawings Bonhomme made between 2015-2024, described as “powerful, first-edition, full-color giclee images.”
Born in 1986, Bonhomme lives in Montpelier, a famous cultural center in the south of France, and is a regular contributor of political cartoons to “Le Monde,” a leading French newspaper. According to a press release, his work has also been featured in major publications including “The Washington Post” and France’s “Arte.”
“French Connection: The Political Art of Olivier Bonhomme” presents the artist’s views on world events from his perspective, grounded in a European Union country. He also provides visual commentaries on contemporary culture—social media, TikTok, political and social movements, cell phones, and more, today all recognized globally.
“The work is illuminating, thought-provoking and visually striking,” said Sydney Waller, curator and Art Garage founding director.A May “Artist’s Talk” via Zoom is also in the works. The exhibition will be on view Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through May 17, and daily by texting or calling (315) 941-9607.
The international events and prominent personages characterized by Bonhomme in his work are from the United States, the European Union, Asia, and Turkey, among others. According to the press release, when a news item catches Bonhomme’s attention, “he works to translate the incident or thought into a visual image to convey and elicit a range of sentiments, no matter one’s viewpoint. His style is inspired by surrealism and mid-20th-century European comics.”
“Finding an echo through the current world’s questions [with editorial work] and exploring my own narrative and graphical vocabulary in my personal work is a kind of leitmotiv,” Bonhomme explained. “Reality and imagination are part of the same process.”
Bonhomme graduated from the Ècole Èmile-Cohl art school in 2010 in Lyon, France and has been working with different clients, newspapers, and studios as an illustrator and art director ever since. He co-founded the BK studio in 2012, a digital art research facilities and production company that creates and works with images in a range of mediums for clients, both corporate and non-profit. He also teaches and presents workshops and has even worked on French video games.
Ècole Èmile-Cohl is named for renowned caricaturist and pioneering filmmaker Èmile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl, who was born in Paris and is often credited with inventing the animated cartoon.
Bonhomme noted with amused satisfaction that, four years before his first publication in “Le Monde,” Jim Kevlin from “The Freeman’s Journal” interviewed him in 2008 when he was in town. The paper also published a drawing he had done of The Art Garage’s predecessor, Waller’s old garage.
Bonhomme’s dream is to one day create a “New Yorker” cover. He is also a big fan of jazz, and has played the saxophone for more than 20 years.
Adept in many art forms, Bonhomme noted, “I tint my universe with the sound of bebop, swing and the big time!”
The Art Garage has been serving the area and all manner of artists for the past 15 years. Open year round, its lively exhibitions have varied from bringing to the area international artists such as Adam Masava (Nairobi, Kenya) and Lewis Danielski (UK/France) to featuring regional contemporary and self-taught artists. The Art Garage also offers free public programs such as artists’ talks and panel discussions. Future 2025 shows include Normandy Allen and Mary Padgett and a fine-arts-look-at-baseball summer show. For more information, visit @ArtGarageCooperstown on Facebook and Instagram.
