2001, Blue Beard, women's hope

2001, The Trial, Franz Kafka

2002, The Narratology class, for judges and censors

2002, Orgy, Pier Paolo Pasolini

The series of theater posters above immediately caught my eye at the 4th Block" exhibition in Kharkov in 2003, but the labels had fallen off, and I was in a hurry, and did not find out who made them. To my great pleasure, their designers won the Grand Prix, and in addition the "Yusaku Kamekura International Design Award" at the Poster Biennale in Toyama a few months later, for a series of 8 posters for the Centre Dramatique National in Orleans (FR), including those above and below :

2000, TES

2000, Pur present

2000, The joyful apocalypse

2003, The satin slipper

Kazumasa Nagai, in his opening address in Toyama "The essential nature of posters" had the following comments about them: ... Even a person who does not go to the event, the poster can very well leave some sort of impression. The poster possesses these aforesaid functional capabilities as well as artistic and cultural values and this is what truly defines it as "design". Among the posters submitted to this year's IPT, the eight Centre Dramatique National Orleans posters by the french designers Dr. Peche and Mademoiselle Rose illustrate this point particularly well. Showing a deep grasp of their subject matter as well as a modernity and firm composition reminiscent of russian avant-garde works, these are powerful posters that manage to enthrall the viewer with their theatricality even before the actual theater performance. ...

When I contacted them, Miss Melle Rose sent me a pdf which revealed that the prize winning posters are just a small selection from a series of theater posters spanning four years:

I tried to get more information about the creators of these interesting works: To my growing excitement, the correspondence with them became increasingly ambiguous and bizarre, perfectly reflecting the grotesque nature of their posters: The title Doctor Peche may not refer to an advanced degree in Visual Communication or Information Architecture (or whatever), but rather to a hitherto unknown branch of the medical profession that "resulted from an operation in the framework of research on schizophrenia in the Fine Arts". The heart in the group's letterhead is probably one of Dr. Peche's operating trophies, and his birth date, given as May 5, 1976 (Model 153b), remains suspicious, in spite of his claims to the contrary. How could young kids make such mature works? As to Miss Rose, she modestly downplays her role as the Doctor's assistant, who gets the pictures on which her boss and partner then applies his plastic surgery. Sorry her face is missing in the picture at right. According to Dr. Peche, there is no need for a head in a portrait. Rose Melle's poetic talent became obvious to me when I asked her for the origin of the mysterious name "Laboratoires CCCP" : CCCP car cela évoque le bégaiement? CCCP comme visuellement facile à photographier? CCCP comme un idéal qui a bercé des milliers d'esprits? CCCP comme ce tampon sur les fusées & les tanks qui ont imprégné mes rétines dans des images de livres d'histoires? CCCP comme une chanson de Parabellum? CCCP comme je connais déjà mais pourquoi reprendre ce nom? There are more pictures in La cave de Dr. Peche, but it takes some persistence to grope around in the dark. The brave are richly rewarded, or get lost forever, or both. PUBLICATIONS 1997 - cover of the french magazine "Etapes", Nr 29, May 1998 - cover of the south-african magazine 'I-Jusi" 2002 : 6 pages in a spanish magazine "Rojo", issue cool 2002 : presentation of cdn artwork at a english graphic design book "Big Ideas" by Roger Walton (DBP editor) 2003 : 7 pages in a spanish magazine "Rojo" issue sale GROUP GRAPHIC DESIGN EXHIBITIONS 2001 - 13th international biennal of Lahti - Finland 2002 - 18th international biennal of Warsaw - Poland 2002 - Vaut Mille Mots - Stratford and Toronto - Canada 2002 - Kunst and Gewerbe Museum of Hamburg - Germany 2002 - Solidarity - Prague - Czech Republic 2003 - 4th international Poster Exhibition - Trnava - Slovakia 2003 - 4th Block Triennal - Kharkov - Ukraine 2003 - 7th International Poster Exhibition - Toyama - Japan 2003 : 1st China International Poster Biennal - China 2003 : Chinese Character Exhibition - Tapei - Taiwan 2003 : 9th Theater Poster Biennal - Rzeszow - Poland AWARDS 2003 : GRAND PRIX > 7th international Poster Exhibition - Toyama - Japan 2003 : HONOR AWARD ( Yusaku Kamekura International Design Award) > 7th international Poster Exhibition - Toyama - Japan