Jean Jullien’s new show playfully subverts how we present ourselves to the world

Illustrator Jean Jullien has his pen firmly on the pulse. Whether he’s drawing people chatting away and taking selfies with pieces of fruit, a pencil shoved in the barrel of an AK-47 (which became one of the most shared responses to the Charlie Hebdo attacks) or calling us out on our strange obsession with that dress, Jean uses his critical eye to capture our immediate present in a thoughtful and mischievous way.

Jean has illustrated for everyone from The New York Times and Pitchfork to Nike and Little White Lies, and now his first solo show in the US opens at HVW8 Gallery in Los Angeles.

Poor Traits flips Jean’s focus on to his audience to look at how we present ourselves to the world. The spoof magazines covers of Vague, Clamor – ‘Self Esteem Special’ and IQ – ‘Timber: make her swipe right’, have mirrored sections which drag the viewer into his playful attack on the narcissism and neuroses that shout out from every newsstand.

For the show’s centrepiece, Jean asked his network of friends, artists and collaborators to send him a self-portrait. He then redrew each submission in his own style to highlight the features they had consciously or unconsciously used to convey their sense of personality and reveal another side to each person through his subjective lens.

Jean Jullien’s Poor Traits is at LA’s HVW8 Gallery March 27 – April 19.