Le Dernier Cri

Le Dernier Cri is a Marseille-based artist collective and publishing house founded in 1992 by Pakito Bolino and Caroline Sury. Its work centers on underground, outsider, and experimental visual culture, with an emphasis on artists whose imagery, production methods, and subject matter sit outside conventional gallery and commercial publishing systems. Rather than operating only as a conventional publisher, Le Dernier Cri combines collective activity, print production, exhibitions, screenings, and event-making. The organisation is particularly associated with artist books, prints, silkscreens, posters, and original artworks. These formats allow it to circulate visual work in editions and multiples while retaining a handmade, workshop-oriented character. Its publishing activity has provided a platform for a broad range of international and French-speaking artists, including Matthias Lehmann, Mike Diana, Fredox, Marcel Ruijters, Pakito Bolino, Caroline Sury, Henriette Valium, Ichiba Daisuke, Matti Hagelberg, Stu Mead, Blexbolex, Quentin Faucompré, Moolinex, Charles Burns, Keiti Ota, Reinhard Scheibner, Frédéric Poincelet, Nuvish, Les Frères Guedin, Atak, Colin Raff, Jonathon Rosen, Rémi, Kerozen, Laetitia Brochier, Stéphane Blanquet, Francis Masse, Manuel Ocampo, Andy Bolus, Dave 2000, and Sven Baslev. Le Dernier Cri’s cultural role extends beyond publishing. It has organised exhibitions and film screenings and has participated in the presentation of underground graphic practices in institutional and independent cultural settings. A notable example was Mangaro, a large 2014 exhibition at La Friche in Marseille devoted to approximately four decades of underground manga. The group’s artists have also contributed murals and interior decoration to l’Embobineuse, an underground music venue in Marseille, linking its visual production to the city’s alternative music and performance scene. The collective’s positioning is defined by experimental image-making, low-volume or artist-edition publishing, and a strong connection to independent cultural networks. Its catalogue brings together comics, illustration, graphic experimentation, disturbing or transgressive imagery, and forms influenced by underground print culture. Because the available reference material does not provide current organisational, financial, ownership, or leadership information beyond the two founders, Le Dernier Cri is best documented as an independent artistic and publishing initiative rather than as a conventional corporate brand.

Le Dernier Cri was established in Marseille in 1992 by artists Pakito Bolino and Caroline Sury. From its beginning, the organisation developed as both a publishing house and a collective platform for underground visual art. Its activity was not limited to the production of conventional books: it also encompassed prints, silkscreens, posters, original artworks, exhibitions, and film screenings. This combination of publishing and cultural programming allowed the organisation to present visual artists through both reproducible editions and live or site-specific events. The collective’s publishing model is closely connected to independent print culture. Artist books and graphic editions provide a way to distribute work outside mainstream commercial channels, while the silkscreen and poster formats reinforce the tactile and workshop-based character of its output. Le Dernier Cri has published artists working across underground comics, illustration, graphic experimentation, and outsider-oriented practices. Its catalogue includes both its founders and a broad international group, among them Matthias Lehmann, Mike Diana, Fredox, Marcel Ruijters, Henriette Valium, Ichiba Daisuke, Matti Hagelberg, Stu Mead, Blexbolex, Charles Burns, Manuel Ocampo, Francis Masse, Stéphane Blanquet, and many others. In addition to its publishing role, Le Dernier Cri has contributed to Marseille’s alternative cultural infrastructure. Artists associated with the collective decorated the interior walls of l’Embobineuse, an underground music venue, illustrating the organisation’s relationship with live music, performance, and non-mainstream cultural spaces. This work connected printed and gallery-based imagery with the environment of an operating venue. A significant public presentation took place in 2014, when Le Dernier Cri organised Mangaro at La Friche in Marseille. The exhibition addressed approximately four decades of underground manga and demonstrated the collective’s ability to frame its interests through a large-scale exhibition rather than only through small editions. The event also situated Le Dernier Cri within a wider history of alternative comics and graphic publishing. Available reference material documents the organisation’s founding, publishing activity, artists, exhibitions, screenings, and Marseille cultural connections, but does not establish a current corporate structure, ownership arrangement, financial profile, or formal executive succession. Its documented identity therefore remains that of an independent artist collective and publishing initiative whose principal contribution is the circulation and presentation of experimental underground visual art.

• 2014

  Mangaro exhibition

  [1]Le Dernier Crien.wikipedia.org

  Le Dernier Cri organises Mangaro at La Friche in Marseille, presenting a broad survey of underground manga across approximately four decades.

• 1992

  Le Dernier Cri is founded in Marseille

  [1]Le Dernier Crien.wikipedia.org

  Pakito Bolino and Caroline Sury establish Le Dernier Cri as an artist collective and publishing initiative focused on underground visual art.

Independent art publishing and collective cultural production focused on underground, experimental, and outsider visual art.

• Art publishing · 1992

  Artist books

  Books produced around the work of underground and experimental visual artists. They form a central part of Le Dernier Cri’s publishing activity and provide a durable, collectible format for graphic work that may also appear in exhibitions, prints, or other editions.

• Print editions · 1992

  Silkscreen prints and posters

  Printed editions and posters that reflect the collective’s handmade, graphic, and independent-production orientation. These formats allow artists to circulate images in multiples while preserving the visual intensity and material character associated with underground print culture.

• Visual art · 1992

  Original artworks

  Original works by artists connected with the Le Dernier Cri network. The organisation’s output extends beyond reproduction into the presentation and circulation of individual artworks associated with experimental illustration, comics, and outsider-oriented imagery.

• Cultural programming · 1992

  Exhibitions and screenings

  Exhibitions and film screenings that broaden Le Dernier Cri’s role from publisher to cultural organiser. These activities provide contexts for underground visual practices and connect the collective’s publications with public presentation and event-based programming.

• 2014Mangaro

  France

  A large exhibition organised at La Friche in Marseille devoted to approximately forty years of underground manga and related visual practices.

  Outcome. The exhibition publicly positioned Le Dernier Cri as an organiser and interpreter of underground graphic culture, in addition to its publishing role.

  Source

1. 1Le Dernier Crien.wikipedia.org
2. 2Le Dernier Cri official websitelederniercri.org