Hervé di Rosa's 'Journal Modeste' Chronicles a Decade of Sketches

Hervé di Rosa, a key figure in the French Figuration libre movement alongside his brother Richard and Robert Combas, has published 'Journal Modeste' with Éditions Buchet Chastel. The book compiles a decade of sketches made during his professional travels to Mexico, Miami, equatorial and southern Africa, and Vietnam. Di Rosa, who founded the Musée international d'art modeste (MIAM) in Sète in 2000, describes his work as a 'punk' version of pop art. The volume includes a lengthy interview with Patrick Amine, where di Rosa discusses his relationship with Art Brut and Jean Dubuffet, his practice of 'destroying' his own style, and drawing as an 'inner adventure' aimed at re-reading his identity. The interview regrettably omits a detailed study Amine had prepared on the artist. The sketches index current events and cultural references, revealing a sophisticated intellectual underpinning to what might appear as mere doodling.