Sally here to wrap up the week with new work by Ulli Lust; an Easter Comix reading at KGB Bar; a conversation with Carel Moiseiwitsch; a look at Saving Grace; plus much more!
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Ulli Lust has printed up a small comic that collects the strips she has been making for the magazine EXBERLINER. She will have copies available at TCAF in May! Meanwhile you can read the strip HERE.
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Check out the Annual Easter Comix & Graphic Novel Night on April 16th, 7-9PM at the KGB Bar in New York City.
Five local cartoonists will offer slideshow readings that are “sure to entertain, bewilder, and amuse.” Co-hosted by Robyn Chapman and Robin Enrico, the reading will also feature Lauren Barnett (some of her work is pictured below), Jim Campbell, Ada Price (above), and Kelsey Wroten.
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RJ Casey interviewed 76-year old Carel Moiseiwitsch for The Comics Journal this week. Carel was born during the Blitz, and her first memories are of playing in the rubble of London following the war. This is probably why she drew, as RJ Casey puts it, “dangerous comics“.
Among many interesting stories about hanging out with the Rolling Stones and getting drunk with Francis Bacon, plus the complexities of making art and raising kids, Carel answers a question posed by RJ Casey that I’ve been thinking about almost constantly for the last year:
“I was thinking about your era of comics and how many fantastic artists just drew for a couple years, then got out completely. Or ones that went into fine art and never made comics again. Why do you think that time period of the late ’80s to early ’90s had so many artists like that?
It’s not fruitful and it requires such hard work. Also everything became kind of corporate. It’s very hard to survive in that kind of atmosphere. Where I came from — London and Paris in the ’60s — you could go there and draw, record music, and create art, then shuffle around to the cafes and have a drink, meet up with friends, write poetry, or whatever it is you wanted to do. People took you seriously without you having to be famous or successful. You just had to be true to yourself. But now it’s like if you’re not famous or successful, you’re nothing.“
Carel has continued to make comics and other artwork, has worked as a teacher, and has spent a lot of time turning her attention to mental health activism. The whole interview is fantastic and it’s a real treat to get a look around Carel’s head space – she’s a powerhouse. Read the whole thing HERE.
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A good friend of Comics Workbook and her fellow artists are in need of your signature – Naomi Nowak (painter/jeweler/fashion designer extraordinaire) is in danger of losing her studio space.
“sad news! your signature is needed. me and my artist friends/colleagues are being evicted from our beloved studio space in stockholm, pannrummet (the boiler room). it’s practically already a done deal and we haven’t been given a fair chance to have our say or be part of the proceedings around this. so this petition is our very last, desperate plea to our landlords that they reconsider their decision and let us continue to work and create in the space we have loved and cared for. last year we renovated the place and built a bar + showroom where we have barely had time to show art and host exchanges, something were very much looking forward to. please sign to save studio pannrummet! we’ve never disturbed our neighbour and all 9 of us are now without a studio #savepannis“
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Saving Grace by Grace Wilson just turned up at Copacetic Comics – it was published late last year in England. The Guardian has a review of it that should spark your interest:
“Saving Grace is, first of all, a brilliant commentary on the housing crisis. Its author, Grace Wilson, knows all about the queasy feeling that comes with not knowing where you will soon be sleeping, and the way it affects everything – everything – else in your life, from work to relationships to, ultimately, your self-confidence. But it’s so much more than that. It’s hilarious, not only about rapacious landlords and their creepy ways, but about friendship, work, holidays and sex, too. It’s hard to imagine a funnier scene than the one when Maxine, drunk and having rowed with her boyfriend yet again, makes the mistake of going home with an Iggy Pop-alike who wants to spank her with a bit of precious rock memorabilia (“Did I ever tell you about when I used to roadie for the Who, Max?”). On the tube, where I read it, people looked at me warily, this sniggering woman with a large rainbow-coloured comic book in her hands.” – Rachel Cooke
Read the rest HERE. Get a copy of the book at Copacetic Comics!
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I thought Lauren Weinstein‘s strip in The Village Voice this week was particularly funny – but maybe that’s because I am increasingly of the opinion that cats are the cartoonist’s true enemy…!
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Scallions or Chives
- The winners of 2017’s Cartoonist Studio Prize are Eleanor Davis for Libby’s Dad (Best Print Comic) and Christina Tran for On Beauty (Best Web Comic).
- A recent New Yorker cover illustration is being reproduced be female surgeons around the world – check it out HERE.
- Katherine Collins will be inducted into the Giants of the North hall of fame this year – and the nominee list for the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning includes Julie Doucet among others.
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Blinkers – 4-14-2017 – by Jack Brougham
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Suzy and Cecil – 4-14-2017 – by Gabriella Tito
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Joanie and Jordie – 4-14-2017 – by Caleb Orecchio