« The Return of Captain Nemo »

The Nauti-Octopus is coming to Brussels! The giant bronze sculpture, half-machine, half-cephalopod, spreading its tentacles on Place Poelaert, in front of the Palais de Justice, was born from the imagination and talent of designer-scenographer François Schuiten and sculptor Pierre Matter, at the request of the city of Amiens in order to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the death of Jules Verne.

In conjunction with this inauguration, the Champaka Gallery has the great privilege of hosting the exhibition of the original artworks from the album The Return of Captain Nemo by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters (Alaxis Press). This emblematic duo, comprising the visionary cartoonist, a polymorphic artist of contemporary Belgian comics, and the writer-critic, resurrects Captain Nemo and places the hero of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island at the controls of the Nauti-Octopus, a hybrid submarine that navigates the geographical traces of their universe of The Obscure Cities. In this very beautiful book, also hybrid, alternating comics with illustrated story, and carried by impressive black-and white-images, the exquisitely crafted work of François Schuiten echoes the great engravers of the 19th century in the lineage of Gustave Doré, or such talented illustrators as Edouard Riou, Alphonse de Neuville, Jules Férat and Léon Benett, who created the signature visuals of the prestigious J. Hetzel editions, forever associated with the work of Jules Verne.

This unique opportunity to acquire the original artworks of all the pages and covers of The Return of Captain Nemo will be presented at the Champaka Gallery in a large-scale display, that also includes multiples of the Nauti-Octopus in sculptures and digital prints, as well as unpublished charcoal illustrations offered in partnership with the 9ème Art Gallery in Paris.

An event that is already shaping up to be the cultural highpoint of the end of the year