MIRALLES

ANA MIRALLES DJINN The Tattoo (T.3), Dargaud 2003 Original plate n° 14 accompanied by its eight preparatory stages preparatory steps in graphite on tracing paper. Signed. India ink and watercolor on paper 33.5 × 46 cm (13.19 × 18.11 in.) To seamlessly mark a cut between two scenes, Ana Miralles uses her art of color. A process as effective as a cinematic fade to black - only more subtle. Here, the blue of the night that dewdrops the dawn fades away, giving way to the subdued glow of crystal chandeliers. The bed tenderly ransacked by the lovers is followed by the seductive pricing of a high-life brothel. Without recourse to the words of a cartouche, the colors of this plate split the story: a century apart, the life of Jade, then the life of Kim. And yet the first djinn may be the grandmother of the second, but the whirlwinds of the plot make these two beings sisters, if not doubles. Ana Miralles expressed this strong link between her heroines by illustrating the first and fourth covers of Notes on Africa, and by a watercolor in which the two heroines rest at the edge of a body of water: one is the reflection of the other. Here, on this impeccably constructed plate, Jade's thick hair is discreetly reincarnated in Kim's brown curls.