Julien Lallemand

Secrets & Lies

A new collection of dry point etchings by artist Julien Lallemand

Julien Lallemand studied art direction in Paris in the mid 90's and majored in photography at the Academy Julian / Met De Pennighen. His first job after art school was as a photo archivist, for which he spent three months in a makeshift photo studio in the basement of an ancient Paris hospital, archiving a century-old collection of fetuses kept in formaldehyde.

He worked in Paris as a graphic designer until 2000, and moved to Hong Kong to become an art director for the South China Morning Post, the leading English language newspaper in the the Asia Pacific region. His passion for drawing led him to transition from design to illustration, and he became a full-time illustrator for the newspaper's daily OpEd page and features sections. 

Julien moved to San Francisco in 2008 and reconnected with printmaking, another passion from his youth. There, he also started illustrating books and publications for McSweeney's. His work has since appeared in publications such as the Guardian UK, the Boston Review and Salon.com.

Julian works in Etching and Drypoint methods;

Julien's background in newspapers informs the strong investigative narrative present in much of his work. He is drawn to scenes that evoke mystery and  conspiracy. Many of the scenes he draws have a narrative counter space, and elicit questions from the viewer: What happened? Who was here? Where are they? Etching is his print media of choice because of its ability to render dramatic yet nuanced differences of light and dark through an intense drawing process.