The artist who did things differently

The Angoulême International Comics Festival in France has kicked off under the chairmanship of Swiss artist Cosey. His work is at the heart of a retrospective at the event. Last year he won the Grand Prix. Created in 1973, the Angoulême Festival is the main comics festival in Europe. 

Cosey, whose real name is Bernard Cosendai, likes to give life to characters in search of themselves – like his hero, Jonathan, created in the 1970s.

“I honestly thought my drawing was not extraordinary,” says Cosey. His asset? “I introduced something new. I didn’t fall into the pattern of the pure hero of the mid-1970s, nor did I produce the opposite, the anti-hero, the loser.” 

Jonathan is a “human” who travels through Tibet in the Himalayas and the United States. Cosey, from canton Vaud, says he’s happy in the great Swiss outdoors. “In the mountains, I feel good. There are my friends the trees, we talk sometimes, it’s always very nice.”