Last week has seen the peak of the private caricature extravaganza held by some members. A number of artists from all over Europe has drawn portraits of each other, some of which can be found in this collection. There seem to have been some favorites when it came to choosing a subject: Belgian-based Ben Heine and Menekse from Turkey clearly lead the field, followed by Nicoleta Ionescu and Sal Navarro.
Introducing…
Of this week’s new members, I would like to introduce Zsolt Vidak from Budapest first. Some of Vidaks works are pages of comic books rather than cartoons, others are more on the illustration side – but they all share imaginative ideas and a very own style of art. I especially like the “used” feel of the images and the colors he uses: that dulled down turquoise, the eye-catching orange and the shades of beige. Be sure to check out the bonsai man and this one on capitalism.
The other new entry is Tallil Abdellatif, aka Caritas. Most of his works are monochromatic line drawings, sometimes adding a single field of color. Take a look at this take on Picasso’s Guernica, this one on aggressive use of ballots and my personal favorite: the double-bass. Caritas’ cartoons are at times controversial but seldom uninspired and cliché-laden. I could imagine interesting discussions developing out of them.
Cartoons of Interest
My favorite cartoon this week is by mysterious Miss or Mister Dro-Mo. It shows that you only need some determination to make analogue technology work in our oh-so-mobile world. And for someone who allegedly “can’t draw” (see Dro-Mos profile) this is a pretty decent projector & record player and a nice, clear line style, too. My other favorite was Mike Shiell’s cartoon about a professional clown, but in the end my love for all things lo-fi won.
I would also like to refer to Ben Heine’s recent Obama drawings. We all knew this guy had a great technique, but artistry-wise this puts the whole thing up a few notches. Personally, I am most impressed by the one with all the lines and think that the two others are somewhat uncanny in their slickness. What does everybody else think?
Paul Hellmich
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