In this interview, Philippe Labaune talks in-depth about his lifelong passion for narrative art and how he came to start his gallery after a long career in the finance industry.

"When you take a comic artist away from strips and the editorial limitations on storytelling, rhythm, and pleasing the publisher, and instead let them craft the narrative to their unique vision, that is where the magic happens."

Israeli illustrator and comic book artist Rutu Modan had a show of her works at the Philippe Labaune Gallery in New York City earlier this spring, in a joint show with French artists Elizabeth Columba and Catherine Meurisse. The exhibition showcased different projects by the three women artists with different cultures and backgrounds. It was a collaboration between the Israeli cultural office in New York,  the French Consulate and the Philippe Labaune Gallery.

A quite unusual gallery opened a year ago in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. At the end of West 24th Street, almost opposite Gagosian, the nerve center of New York’s contemporary art market, the Philippe Labaune Gallery has chosen to represent an immensely successful sector in Europe, but which has remained almost untapped in the United States: comic art.

Philippe Labaune Gallery will open its doors to Ruthless Portrait, an exhibition of paintings and drawings by French artist Nicolas de Crécy. The Paris based artist offers, through his various portraits, his singular vision of human beauty removed from the common standards of advertising aesthetics. These are the faces of the street that no one would notice, faces without apparent beauty, sometimes damaged by life, often hollowed out by age, sublime or sad, yet always mesmerizing once interpreted by Crécy.

Philippe Labaune spent 25 years working as a wealth manager before opeening a gallery in Chelsea during the pandemic. He specializes in comic-art illustrators, a booming market in Europe which is paradoxically underdeveloped in the land of Marvel.

This is a first in the USA for Catherine Meurisse, a first in exhibitions and sales for Rutu Modan and a first in “comic-art” for Elizabeth Colomba. A crowd of curious and true amateurs were surprised by their works, original boards, illustrations or drawings made especially for the event. With some well-known professionals at Actuabd.com.

La journée internationale des droits des femmes qui a lieu le 8 mars nous permet de revenir vers un autre marqueur des changements au sein du 9e art. Outre-atlantique, trois autrices s'établissent sur le marché de l'art. Les œuvres de Rutu Modan, Catherine Meurisse et Elizabeth Colomba, font l'objet d'une exposition collective, "Three continents".

NEW YORK. ”3 continents”: the exhibition pays tribute to three comic strip authors who honor their country of origin in their work. Elizabeth Colomba, Catherine Meurisse and Rutu Modan represent New York, Paris and Tel Aviv respectively. Cosmopolitan cities that inspire in abundance the abundant pool of artists.

Gaetano "Tanino" Liberatore loves drawing and sex. Beginning with a frenzy at the age of five, while running a fever and in a spell, Liberatore claims to have made some 500 drawings within the course of a day. Just a few years later, he was obsessively drawing from movie magazines; stripping the stars and pumping up their breasts.

Akira has been in the news a lot in the past few years, thanks in part to the live-action film that was originally set to be helmed by Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi and the shocking announcement that a new animated series was in the works that would follow the manga source material closely, and now, the legendary anime franchise will be hitting a new art exhibit in New York City. With the exhibit already landing in the Big Apple, anime fans can have the opportunity to relive what is considered by many to be the greatest anime movie.

Philippe Labaune, a comics collector and expert, staged his first show, Line and Frame: A Survey of European Comic Art, last year at the Danese/Corey Gallery in Chelsea. The gallery has since closed but the show went so well Labaune decided to start his own gallery...

WHAT: Good for Health – Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo
WHERE: Philippe Labaune Gallery, 534 West 24th St.
WHEN: April 8 – May 8, 2021

Philippe Labaune Gallery inaugural exhibition, Good for Health – Bad for Education: A Tribute to Otomo will showcase illustrations by 30 international artists in homage to Japanese artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s seminal 1982 manga series: “Akira.” Featuring a selection of new work, the exhibition builds upon the 2016 tribute curated by Julien Brugeas at the Angoulême Festival hosted by France’s Ministry of Culture and Galerie Glénat, which honoured Otomo’s distinct aesthetic contribution to the genre. A Tribute to Otomo will be on view from April 8th – May 8th, 2021, with an opening on April 8th from 11AM to 9PM.

Created almost a century ago by the Belgian artist George Remi, better known as “Hergé,” Tintin’s adventures have taken the intrepid boy reporter and his companions from the jungles of South America to the surface of the moon and back -- all without ever appearing to be on deadline or even file a story. But these comics are more than just children’s stories: for many Europeans, where comics have long been considered fine art, Hergé’s work is foundational to the medium. Now, a pair of his original pages are on display at Gallery Danese/Corey in Manhattan, the first time they have been shown in the U.S.

After 27 years working in finance in New York, Frenchman Philippe Labaune has reconnected with his biggest passion, comic books. He is curating the first European comics exhibition in America at the Danese/Corey gallery from February 28 through March 14.

With its roots being traced centuries, comic art took the world by storm during the 20th century. Its culture began developing on three major soils on a global scale, the United States, Western Europe and Japan, first as a lowbrow form and then as a proper art form at the advent of the new millennium. It has been long considered to be fine art, especially among European enthusiasts, a sentiment that is quickly gaining traction in the United States.

Interest in comics art is rapidly growing among American collectors new and old, and a new art exhibition is opening this month to drive the point home.