Astrid Chevallier

Astrid Chevallier is a French Visual Artist and Musician.
Background.
Born in Normandie, France, affichiste (literally "poster designer") Astrid Chevallier has been studying Fine Art in Paris, France, which led her to explore various medium such as drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, typography, calligraphy, advertising, and graphic design.
She refers to the painters Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt as her first strong influences.
Graphic Design.
Astrid started to freelance in advertising agencies as a Graphic Designer and Assistant Photographer, before being hired as an Art Director at Euro RSCG where she learned the ropes of the branding and corporate design business.
In 2002, Chevallier has been recruited and relocated to Los Angeles to design movie posters for Seiniger Advertising, a very established pioneer advertising company in the movie business.
Bringing her European influences and her conceptual vision to the table, she has been creating movie posters for major Hollywood Studios (Universal Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros.), award-winning independent film productions ("I'm Not There", "South of Pico", "Coco Before Chanel", "James Ellroy: American Dog"), TV series ("Camelot (TV series)", "Into the West (TV miniseries)", "Everwood"), as well as award-winning short films ("Cuco Gomez-Gomez is Dead!", "The Last Full Measure (film)", "Keeper of the Past"). Purple Red’s style stands out by bringing a conceptual or design twist that emphasizes the emotional aspect of the subject matter.
In March 2004, the University of Caen Lower Normandy set up a solo exhibition of more than 40 posters, for Cities, Theaters, and Hollywood; produced a video interview of the artist along with a CD-Rom and a catalog, and invited Astrid Chevallier to speak about her work at a public lecture.
In April 2007, Chevallier has been invited to give a lecture about graphic design at The Art Institute of New York City.
""My goal is to emphasize an emotional aspect of the subject in a design" says Chevallier, "It allows a poster to grab your attention very quickly and to deliver a more profound idea when you hang it on your wall and take the time to really look at it.""
March 10, 2011, the solo exhibition "Affiches" presents 22 of her original posters at the HGCL Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles. The show has been relayed and supported by the French Embassy, and TV5 Monde broadcast worldwide an interview with the Artist.
Upon the extension of the show, Art Critic Ed Fuentes writes about Astrid Chevallier's posters "They are a visual throwback to the non-tweeting social networking days when posters initiated interest and conversation. (...) Most are delicious examples of how emotional typography mixed with illustrative imagery have not only have a place in film promotion, but in an art gallery."
Painting.
Astrid Chevallier has been painting since her Fine Art School years, and her style slowly transitioned from figurative to abstract.
Her work has been displayed in galleries in France, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles where she also did live painting performances.
Music.
Chevallier has been studying classical music since the age of 6, and later on switched to rock blues and punk while jamming with her fellow art school students.
In June 2006 she released a solo album "So Far, My Love", which she wrote, composed, recorded and produced. It's been reviewed as "an eclectic collection of fourteen experimental-, ambient- and pop-style tracks (...) The artist's interests emerge in the sound effects of "Bug" and incantations in "Pluie," both highly experimental numbers that will delight some listeners but not others."
The main title "Running Away"(music produced by Peruvian Frágil's lead singer Santino de la Torre; music video by French filmmaker Fanny Jean-Noël) has been featured on YouTube, while Astrid was going on tour and started to publish videos of live performances online.
Movies.
Astrid Chevallier has also been credited as a still photographer on many movie sets.
Her credits include feature films such as "Strike One" with Danny Trejo, award-winning "South of Pico" by Ernst Gossner, and documentary about "James Ellroy: American Dog" by Kuperberg French filmmakers family.