Pocko Gallery Tokyo presents a solo exhibition by French illustrator and animator Simon Landrein, bringing together new paintings, works on paper, and animation. Known for his bold graphic language and sharp, often irreverent humour, Landrein's work explores the body as both subject and site of tension. His figures, simplified,distorted, and frequently caught mid-action, occupy scenes that feel familiar at first glance, but quickly become ambiguous or unstable. Large-scale paintings anchor the space, presenting compressed scenes where gestures and interactions are heightened through colour and composition. Alongside these, smaller works and comic-based tapestries introduce rhythm and repetition, drawing from Landrein's background in illustration where minor shifts in gesture or expression alter the meaning of a scene. A dedicated screen presents the full range of Landrein's abilities as an animator.

Where his static work freezes tension mid-gesture, his animation releases it by deploying timing, anticipation, and controlled exaggeration to give his figures a physical comedy. It is in motion that Landrein's instinct for the absurd finds its sharpest expression: small actions accumulate weight, pauses become loaded, and the body — already a site of ambiguity in his paintings — acquires a life that is at once fluid and deeply strange.

Simon Landrein French illustrator and animator whose minimalist, irreverent style has become one of the most recognisable in contemporary commercial art. After beginning his career as a 3 artist at studios including Nexus and The Mill, he joined Passion Pictures in London as an animation director. He now works freelance from Paris. His bold, graphic work, defined by thick outlines, restricted colour palettes and a sharp comic sensibility has appeared consistently in leading editorial publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Observer, Le Monde, Libration and L'Obs. Recent years have seen Landrein take on some of his most high-profile commercial work. In summer 2024, he created 23 illustrations for Apple's Made on iPad campaign with TWAMedia Arts Lab — a suite of sports-themed posters displayed across Paris and Marseille during the Olympic Games. The same year, he contributed animation and digital imagery to Marvis's Marvel Your Routine brand campaign. He has also illustrated two books for Laurence King: How to Make Work Not Suck by arina Maggar and The Little ook of Ick by Anna urtt and Kitty Winks. His broader client list includes Nike, GQ, Wired, Personal Magazine, and the animated trailer for Rick and Morty. Landrein's practice sits between fine art and commercial image-making, with clients including a growing number of Japanese clients.