Charlotte is “the queen of blocks”, these little colored plastic bricks are his material, a bit like the potter with clay. For her, building buildings is not just about playing. It is serious, meticulous and complex work. This two-tailed character by Laurène Smagghe tries to tame the strict, logical rules of this game and those of gravity. “For hours, brick by brick, Charlotte makes flowers, cars, animals, houses, towers, boats.” These things, which are well known to everyone, take on a strange form in the guise of Jean-Claude Alphen. The elephant looks like Elmer. The tower leans left then right. It is so narrow that one fears for its balance. The bricks fall. Nothing is right. And, there, Charlotte explodes. His head swells. His body turns green. A dragon’s tail pierces his orange shorts. Farewell to the little girl and hello to the monster straight out of a fairy tale.
Swim in a sea of bricks
Fortunately for his dog Galopin, everything is fleeting, even his mistress’s anger. All ? Except the shambles that is his room. The bricks don’t gather dust in the attic or the basement, they pile up at the foot of his bed. She plays with them, hides in them and transports them with her friends using a wheelbarrow. Everything is calculated. “Everyone goes to Charlotte’s room. They open their bags. Inside, there are blocks of all colors. For hours, brick by brick, everyone applies. Each of the pieces and their assemblies are designed and highlighted by the black and furtive pencil line of Jean-Claude Alphen. The watercolor palette too. The colors can be counted on the fingers of one hand giving the impression of swimming in a sea of bricks. Attracted by an abyss, the blocks intermingle, collide like in a painting by Mira Maodus. The letters and numbers painted in acrylic dance on its canvas by overlapping. The blank page is sometimes necessary to avoid drinking the cup. Jean-Claude Alphen suggests it. In this ode to perseverance and friendship, the movement of bodies and emotions is nothing but a green, blue and pink spiral. Sometimes white. Or a purple pastel streak stretching across four pages.
Laurène Smagghe stood out from her first book, a mini-novel, Emile’s Enigma at Bayard Canada then for his album Charlotte and the migration of shorts, also at D’Eux, which recounted the clothing habits of our heroine. His pen already sketched the difficulties associated with change, the virulence of emotions and the surprising imagination of children.