Il y a encore quelque chose qui cloche

by Billout

In this slightly offbeat, deliberately challenging, and strikingly oversized book, one of our favourite artists (who we would argue is possessed of a talent bordering on genius) offers up 33 full-size paintings that portray scenes where things are, well, not quite right. Not obviously not quite right, but just enough so most children, with a little help from their parents, will be able to spot the clever anomalies and dichotomies; e.g. the gaping gaps in the suspension bridge, the pigeon with landing gear for feet, the Boeing 747 about to land with no wheels, the golf ball lodged in the ostrich's gullet. But, to be really honest, we're publishing the book because Billout has always seemed to us a genuine original, among the most talented, inventive and ingenious artists (not illustrators) working today.

Genres: Art, Picture Books, Humor

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Adam DeFosse]

Guy Billout is and will always be one of my favorite artists. I’ve been a fan of his for quite some time but never realized he had certain works published as books. Not much to say about writing style or anything like that given the nature of the book but the artwork is incredibly unique and you can easily find yourself taking hours to look for the subtle details he leaves behind.

[Charlotte]

Very French, very surreal, and very cool. There were a few I couldn't figure out! What a fun and absorbing collection. I wanted the book to be about 50 pages longer.

[Kevin Hogan]

It's hard to review a book of paintings which are slightly off-kilter, except to say that a few of them made me sit up and say "Whoa."

[Cynthia]

This book was strikingly different in a good way. As I was looking through the pages I noticed that the book was rather big, a bit more oversized than most books that I have seen, and it was also pretty thin. I liked the fact that the illustrations looked a bit more real and life like as well, and the strange out of place things that kids have to figure out is also great, especially when the paintings themselves are very realistic. In a way it's teaching children to look around their surrounding a bit more and to become just a bit more aware in a way.

[Isaiah Oliver]

The title of this book caught my eye so I decided to give it a read. I am glad that I did. This book is special. The illustrations are life-like, but there is always something that is not quite right. The reader's job is to figure out what is not quite right about the illustration. I really enjoyed the hide-and-seek aspect of this book. I would recommend this book to others.

[Kaylin Azevedo]

I found this book really interesting with all of the very different illustrations that we know are just not quite right. The illustrations are very vibrant in color. Also, I think the voice would be a narrator from the outside looking in.

[John]

This is sort of like The Nonsense Show: it's sort of nonsense-y.

[Christa Parks]

As the description of the book says, it is slightly offbeat. The picture on the cover starts with the boat split between to sides, like the gutter of a book, and continues that offbeat theme throughout the book. However, that is what makes it special. Each page initially makes you feel that "something is not quite right" and then challenges you to find the reason. Each page has a new setting and purpose. The settings range from the safari, to the city, to the desert. The colors also can range from bright and light to dark and sleepy, but not really scary. It is a book for those who want to expand their thinking and not flip mindlessly through a book.

[Craig]

This is a quirky, thin little volume of thirty paintings that reminded me of some of the best of Kliban's cartoons. Each has a title at the top of the page and below that the pictures each have some thought-provoking flaw. For example, "Dune" has an Arab climbing a sand dune on one side but there's an Eskimo climbing a snow drift on the other. What will happen when they meet at the top? "Faith" has a butterfly standing on a lever, and on the other side of the fulcrum is a tilting skyscraper. It's a fun collection.

[Sam Bloom]

I love this kind of book - strange optical illusions and weird visual puzzles. The book has no text except for the titles of the illustrations, which go along with theme of the paintings; for example, in "Civil Engineering," my personal favorite, a man stands atop a cliff, looking down on a construction crew digging into the ocean as if the water were soil. In fact, there is kind of a lot of ecologically motivated protest pieces like this one, which I really liked. Cool book!

[Cara]

Some of the pictures were pretty cool.