Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/86796
At the Oscars Above, Karl Lagerfeld; below, Delhomme's self-portrait "I always try to create a second story . . . I like to anticipate some kind of conversation with the people who will see my work." —Jean-Philippe Delhomme wearing them—and also gently making fun of the buyers, including myself. People related more to these situations than to a photograph of a supermodel. I still sometimes meet people who tell me, "It was me on that ad!" And, of course, it was a perfect and playful match with Glenn O'Brien, who was writing the copy. I also had longtime collaborations with magazines for which I could really do something totally personal, like for LA Times Magazine(which sadly closed), in which I had a page called "Social Studies," or French GQ, for which I sometimes write stories and illustrated them, or the Italian interior magazine GCasa, for which I write and illustrate imaginary interviews with art, architecture and design celebrities. You were drawn to photography but chose to interpret your world through illustration. Why was that? When I was a student, I was indeed much more interested by the work of photographers; photography was really what inspired me the most to paint. I loved the realness of photography and the way it romanticizes [an image]. There was something richer to me there from which I could start. David Bailey, Bruce Davidson—especially his book Subway—Walker Evans all had an impact on me. Which mediums do you most like to use? Although I sometimes use watercolor to do landscapes when I travel, I use gouache most of the time to work. I love the fact that it's light, fluid and the quality of the colors. And I love to work on paper. There is a simplicity to using gouache, paper and water, which pleases me very much—a simplicity and immediacy. I also use a very smooth paper, which allows the brush to go fast. Which sorts of characters do you most enjoy portraying when not working on commission? I love to do small oil portraits of my family and close friends. Or I would do portraits of people who I find interesting—other artists, etc., like I do for my 58 BAL HARBOUR