Odö was captivated by board culture as a youth, and it’s an obsession that has stayed with him into adulthood and his career as a professional artist. The Frenchman, real name Nicolas Le Borgne, produces vibrant and complex works comprised of cartoon, fantasy, graffiti and tattoo elements which have been thrown into the blender of his mind but pour out as a very tasty mixture indeed.
Pen and paint are his tools, and Odö uses a selection of carefully created backgrounds – from parchment to geometric patterns – on which to present the designs, intricately tangled together with a menace like a nest of vipers, including several scenes featuring subversions of Disney’s favourite son Mickey Mouse.
Having already stopped in Bayonne, the artists’ Cross my Heart and Hope to Die exhibition will be touring the Spacejunk centres in Lyon, Grenoble and Bourg St Maurice from now until 3rd August – check the gallery’s website for the exact dates. If you like seeing Mickey Mouse put through the wringer, you might like our features on Vokos’ Dirty Land and Nathan James’ Creepshow.
