On a more positive note: On Wednesday the Catalan parliament voted 68 to 55 to end bullfighting in the region. This is, of course, good news only if you consider animal rights more important than tradition and if you don’t think that this vote is a step further towards the disintegration of the Spanish nation. Cartoons on the issue vary in their position towards the vote. Or so I think. Actually, I am pretty confused by some cartoons, especially the one with a bleeding bull in a “I (heart) Spain” shirt, and one combining the secession issue, bullfighting, and toilet doors. A third cartoon referencing Planet of the Apes is ambiguous too, but less confusingly so. It makes fun of toreadoral hubris. Or maybe it points out the looming arrival of bovine world domination now that no one is willing to fight those cud-chewing fiends anymore. In any case, it kinda mocks the presumably monumental dimension of the whole situation, which is always a good thing to do.
Cartoons of Interest
Last week’s favorite is Marian Avramescu‘s caricature of Vladimir Putin in a turtleneck. I don’t know if it’s based on an actual picture or if his chin just didn’t look right, but the combination of his evil-looking face and the ridiculous piece of clothing made me giggle.
I would also like to point out the one about “fishing for chicken”, Don Camillo about to kick some ass, solo foosball, and an illustration about sausage trafficking.
]]>As you might know, “Love Parade” was held in Berlin between 1989 and 2006. This of course makes the tragic event and the subsequent announcement that there won’t be any further Love Parades feel particularly weird. Even for people who never really cared about the parade. This month two of Andreas Eikenroth’s daily cartoon about historical events mention the 1989 and 2008 parade.
Introducing…
Ferenc Szénászi AKA Szena is from Sopron, Hungary. So far, he has uploaded illustrations as well as caricatures, both of them done with pencils, some of them colored, some not. The illustrations in particular display some creative ideas and great skill. Check out the ones on censorship, nostalgia for communism, and public smiles. Ferenc’s caricatures are mostly standards – after all every self-respecting caricaturist must be able to do the Pope, Amy Winehouse, and Barack Obama. And for reasons unknown to me also Dr. House.
The illustrations posted by Romanian artist Paula Salar are worth taking a closer look. Her best works have a certain hypnotic quality to them, created by the very detailed backgrounds and the surreal subject matter often including collage items. There’s one about keyholes, one about Van Gogh on a piano, one about urinal ears, and one about Stalin and Charlie Chaplin. The only thing that bugs me is her use of standardized tags that hardly have anythig to do with the content of the image. Since I use these tags for my work I find it annoying that, for example, the Stalin one will not show up on a search for “Stalin” or “Chaplin” but when people search for “children XXX tv”. Which I certainly hope no one will ever do.
Cartoons of Interest
This week’s favorite is “Thief” by Chinese artist TTT. Absurd idea. Simple line drawing. My type of cartoon. Now imagine the two stacked thieves running away followed by the stacked cops.
Last week I posted a link to a Harvey Pekar caricature by Freelah from Brazil. He added further uncanny portraits without noses or pupils. They look like evil alien versions of celebrities. Check out Daniel Radcliffe, Cher, Audrey Hepburn and Carles Puyol.
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