Toulouse: The lights of the night watchman
Adrien Neveu exhibits his very beautiful drawings at the Ombres Blanches bookstore in Toulouse. This night watchman in a downtown hotel tells us about his journey.
He always liked to draw but really found his way through comics. Adrien Neveu, 35, night receptionist in a downtown hotel, exhibits his drawings at the Ombres Blanches bookstore until March 12. “This food work allows me to draw when I want at my workplace,” he says. For the moment, I cannot yet live from my art”.
Adrian a talent. To discover his black and white graphite pencil drawings that run along the walls of the bookstore café, it is impossible to doubt it. Drawings of misty landscapes of Volvestre (Haute-Garonne), discovered in the early morning, which strangely recall engraving and primitive Italian painting: “Before, during my working hours, I drew in Indian ink. But I regularly stained my shirt. I changed to pencil. An innovative technique that pleases a lot by its rigor of detail”.
A lot happens in a hotel at night
The meeting with Frédéric Pajak, publisher of Cahiers Dessinés, was decisive for the rest of his career: “He published several of my drawings in his magazine and that followed with the exhibition “Political drawing, poetic drawing” in 2019 at the Jenisch Vevey Museum in Switzerland. In this collective exhibition which brought together nearly 80 past and contemporary artists (Rembrandt, Goya, etc.), I was the youngest. My work has been very noticed”.
The other meeting with the author and cartoonist Edmont Baudoin was also important. “These people believed in me and encouraged me to pursue this path chosen as a teenager. For an autodidact, this is important. It gave me confidence”.
Adrien’s drawings encourage strolling, daydreaming too. “Many visitors know well-known places”, discovered this artist who hopes to make a quick living from his art. “Night watchman is a special job. A lot happens at night in a hotel”.