Gilles Tréhin - Artist

Gilles Tréhin is a French artist, author, and creator of the imaginary city of "Urville". His book, also titled Urville, is based on his writings of the fictional city's history, geography, culture, and economy, and includes over 300 drawings of different districts of Urville, all done by Trehin. When he was five, he began drawing in three dimensions, untaught. His mother, Chantal, says that he was classically autistic - speech first delayed, then echolalic, aloof from other children, hypersensitive to certain sounds (thunder, balloons, crackers and circus whips were all terrifying), obsessed with aeroplanes, phone numbers, mountains and unusual buildings to the exclusion of all else. "From 15 months, I knew he was different. But both Paul [Gilles' father] and I, even before Gilles' birth, liked people with different minds. So we always tried to see Gilles' good points, and help him make the most of them."