Pierre Mortel

Pierre Mortel is a contemporary French artist, illustrator, and comic book author.

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His universe, blending sharp humor, graphic minimalism, and impactful storytelling, is populated with unique characters who reflect the contradictions and absurdities of modern life.

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Through his work, he explores themes such as loneliness, boredom, and the search for meaning, with a touch of irony and tenderness. His comics, such as the Sadboy series, offer a subtle social critique while remaining accessible and engaging.

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Pierre Mortel favors ink and digital drawing to create his illustrations and comics. His style is marked by clean, immediately recognizable lines and a limited color palette — black and white or pastel tones — giving his works a strong visual impact.

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In December 2024, he was invited by rapper Oli (of the duo Bigflo & Oli) to participate in the exhibition Le Musée imaginaire d’Oli at Les Abattoirs – Musée Frac Occitanie Toulouse. His character Jean Publik guided visitors throughout the exhibition, offering a playful and offbeat perspective on the museum experience.

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In 2025, his collaboration with the gallery In Arte Veritas in Toulouse marks a new stage in his artistic evolution: an exploration of the pictorial medium through a series of paintings and digigraphies that extend and reinvent his graphic world. Here, he further develops Jean Publik, an emblematic figure of the individual dissolved in the crowd. Both anonymous and universal, he acts as a mirror to the viewer — a collective projection imbued with gentle irony and contemporary gravity.