#2 - Bienvenue Chez Moi

By Miguel Tanco & Miguel Pang

A vibrant trip to New York city with Miguel Tanco & Miguel Pang’s book; Bienvenue Chez Moi, [Welcome To My Home]…

This is a tallish format book, perhaps imitating the sky scrappers of New York, but it is such brilliant fun and so, so colourful.

The book takes us on a journey through the streets, narrated by someone amongst the pages but not shown right till the end. An ending i won’t spoil, but it’s cracking & had me smiling. “Of course!” you will say as you furiously reread the book and see our narrator was there in plain sight, you just didn’t look!

New York is a big city, there are many things you have to get used to if you move from the countryside. From people rushing around, the cold winters and all the traffic!

These things can take time to get used to but when you do you can fall in love with a place. There are many places to visit; the library, the park, the museum, even the best pizza place in town. And most of all, in a big city, no one looks at you funny, no matter what you look like.

This book offers plenty for us to spot and find, giving us lots of opportunities to look and maybe wonder who our mysterious guide is. Like I already mentioned, the reveal makes you go back through and re-see the whole thing a new. It’s a lovely reminder that everyone sees a place differently and that is what makes a city and life great.

It is an absolute blast, not just in its amazing colour palette but the story and its visuals; Fun, a little surreal but full of humour & delight. The city is a place where humans, giraffes, aliens and giant ice creams exist side by side.

It’s a relatively recent addition, but one i haven’t actually placed on the shelf yet, not just as it’s a little oversized but it is such a rich book of inspiration and so pleasing to look through, its made me think a lot about colour choices.

You can read a bit more about it here and I really do hope a english translation comes about, but if not the artwork speaks for itself and there is always translation apps.

If you like both the art and the writing in this one i highly recommend you seek both Miguel’s out… Tanco / Pang, as they both have lots more wonderful work to explore.

This one was published in 2019 by Argume in France.

Happy Reading!