‘More Enriching to Bring Out Questions’ : Whittier Artist Exhibits Real Feel for Unreal

Staring from a corner of Jean-Francois Podevin’s Whittier studio is a portrait of a female robot, all metallic coldness except for a softly human mouth and nose.

Nearby is a drawing of a horizontal maze, the gray edges of the puzzle fading into a smoky horizon. On another wall hangs a picture of a bored-looking fish-man under water wearing a fedora, coat and tie.

These are some of the images--ominous, mysterious, whimsical--created by Podevin, a Whittier artist and illustrator whose work is on the cover of October’s Omni magazine.

And like his female robot, Podevin is a contradiction. He wears sensible clothes and works in a book-lined studio on a quiet residential street. His artwork, however, does not always make sense. And he prefers it that way.

“When you’re confronted by a mystery, your life is enlarged by it,” Podevin said. “Rather than finding the answer, sometimes it’s more enriching to bring out the questions. . . . That adds to our sense of wonder.”

Fast Images

The French-born Podevin said he gained an appreciation of mystery from his father, who he described as a classic beret-wearing, palette-carrying artist. Raised in Paris, Podevin, 34, began painting as a teen-ager and moved to the United States in 1977. But the paintbrushes were largely left behind when he switched to commercial art about 6 years ago.

“In this business, you have to make an image right away,” he said. “I used to paint with oil, but with deadlines you could never manage. It would never dry.”

So Podevin turned to photographs, airbrushes, acrylic paints, sketches and even photocopier machines as sources of speedy art. “In this style, you can create some impossible images--paradoxes,” such as the fish-man hybrid, he said.

Oftentimes, he will get an assignment from a magazine editor in the morning and have to send sketches via a facsimile machine that same afternoon.

The length of his assignments vary from one day for simple sketches to several months for a book cover. An agent used to handle Podevin’s work, but the artist became dissatisfied after about 3 years and now acts as his own manager. Podevin sells much of his work through the Image Bank, a New York City-based stock house for illustrations.

Proud of Omni Cover

“His work is very marketable,” said Robert Morris, director of the Image Bank’s illustration division. “We have been selling it in many different countries. It seems to appeal to all societies and cultures.”

In addition to the Omni cover, Podevin’s illustrations have appeared in Time magazine, Science magazine, on movie posters, record albums and many advertisements. He has also illustrated two books, a collection of pop-up fairy tales and “Treasure,” in which his 40 illustrations contained clues to a $500,000 prize.

Podevin is particularly proud of the Omni cover, because it is an illustration of one of his sons. It shows William, age 3 at the time, wrapped in a flowing red shroud and suspended above a computer, one tiny finger stretching to touch the keyboard.

Podevin and his family moved to Whittier in the summer of 1987 after living in Los Angeles for 9 years. Podevin heard about Whittier from his colleagues at the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design, where he teaches a class in linear perspective.

The family--Podevin, wife Barbara, and sons William, 5, and Michael, 3--rents both halves of a Newlin Avenue duplex, with Podevin’s studio on one side and the living area on the other. William attends Broadoaks Preschool at Whittier College, and Podevin recently donated one of his artworks for the school’s charity auction.

“Compared to L.A., it’s so peaceful here,” he said of Whittier.

Podevin’s children wander in and out of his studio, and he said it is healthy for him to have them around because their view of reality is still being established. William draws imaginary creatures at his preschool while his father draws a man with six arms reclining on a golf course lit by three moons, or a hand touching the spine of a transparent body floating in outer space.

At Otis Parsons, Podevin encourages his students to rely on more than their eyes.

For example, the eye sees railroad tracks seemingly disappear into the distance, when in reality they are still there. “Whatever we look at is a distortion. Little by little, we take it for reality, which it is not.”