Video, drawing, sculpture, motion design, bas-relief, illustration… Anthony Jegu defines himself as a multimedia artist in the literal sense. For many years, he has made the octopus symbol his signature—an emblem of a multidisciplinary approach that is both deliberate and prolific.
Alongside a career in special effects and audiovisual production, Anthony Jegu has developed an artistic universe rooted in imagination and experimentation. In his first series of sculptures and bas-reliefs, "Octoputsh", he presents a body of work he describes as “reverse archaeology,” creating pieces inspired by lost civilizations.
More recently, his drawing series "The Anatomical Shape of Dreams", born from a collaboration with a philosopher-botanist, resembles a true cabinet of curiosities. Like a modern-day apothecary, the artist dissects imaginary bodies. With anatomical precision and intricately intertwined muscle fibers that give rise to plants or entire forests, hybrid insects, or sagittal sections of aging faces… the finesse of Anthony Jegu’s lines and the meticulous attention to detail evoke the richness of engravings and provoke reflection on organic matter and the living.
Anthony Jegu’s artistic work, far from traditional academic paths, is intertwined with his life journey and deeply influenced by his travels and expatriations across continents. After California and Malaysia, the artist has now settled in the Netherlands. His work there has been nourished by countless hours spent at the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave—dedicated to the history of science and medicine—and at the botanical garden of Leiden University (Hortus Botanicus Leiden). These studies, combined with the experience of fatherhood, have fueled Anthony Jegu’s reflections on cycles and seasons (life, death, renewal…) and have had a major impact on the development of his series "The Anatomical Shape of Dreams."
What also stands out in Anthony Jegu’s work, across all his series, is his treatment of the gaze. In most of his pieces, an eye—singular or plural—stares back at us. The gaze of others, the gaze upon others, the gaze into the unknown: this recurring motif echoes the artist’s curiosity and his relationship with imagery, which is always exploratory and experimental.
