Sketch Journals of Jordan Mechner
June 4 - August 22, 2021
FREE Opening Reception: Friday, June 4th 5-8pm (No RSVP req’d)
Public Hours: Sundays 1-5pm (Tickets Required), $5, Kids under 12 are free
FREE Zoom Artist Talk with Jordan Mechner in partnership with Alliance Francaise de Chicago: Thursday August 19, 12pm (Register)
Jordan Mechner is among the most recognizable figures in video game history as the creator of Prince of Persia. In 2016, Mechner moved from the United States to France for a video game project and captured his impressions of the country in a series of largely monochromatic ink and paper drawings. These magnetic studies of quietly beautiful street life, cafés, airports, and live models offer a distinctly fresh view of a place that has been muse to so many throughout art history. This series was the focus of two books by Jordan Mechner: Year 1 in France and Year 2 in France, printed by Tomoe in Montpellier. In Mechner’s hands, travel sketching in Europe is not only a creative well, but a timeless beacon and antidote to contrast with the absorptive and caustic effects of modern digital life. His drawings encompass the signature qualities that have defined Mechner’s excellent works in other media -- pleasing aesthetics, captivating subjects, compelling stories, and parsimonious use of line and form.
American artist Jordan Mechner was born in 1964 and lives and works in Montpellier, France. Mechner is the auteur and creative visionary behind acclaimed and transformative video games in the 1980s and 1990s: Karateka (1984), Prince of Persia (1989), Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame (1993), The Last Express (1997), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003). Mechner's books include the 2013 New York Times best-selling, Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel Templar, The Making of Karateka and Prince of Persia, the Year 1 in France and Year 2 in France sketchbook compilations, and the forthcoming English language adaptation of Persia’s trickster-warrior hero Samak the Ayyar. Film credits include Waiting for Dark (1992), Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story (2003), and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). He holds a degree from Yale University. Website: jordanmechner.com