Mineshaft is an independent literary and comics zine, featuring work of some of the world’s greatest artists, like Kim Deitch, Robert Crumb, Pat Moriarity, Jay Lynch and Art Spiegelman. I am more than honored to be in such company.
To order a copy go to www.mineshaftmagazine.com.
Beautiful cover art and logo by Sophie Crumb, lettering by Robert Crumb (left). Back cover illustration by yours truly (right).
Photo by Tanja-Tiziana
I am pleased and excited to announce a new project I am working on with a dear friend and performer, the ladybear extraordinaire, the queen of drag, Fay Slift. The project will consist of multiple two page comic spreads, all written by Fay and illustrated by yours truly. Each installment gives Fay, our heroine, a chance to vent on a variety of issues and put on a new outfit; and, for those of you who had not been fortunate to meet our ladybear in person, she is quite a venter. Fay does venting like nobody else – her venting is bitter, venomous, dark, yet funny as hell and ultimately good. With titles like The Pearl Necklace of Wisdom and Love Your Inner Sinner, the stories explore a variety of themes, mostly personal memories disguised as parenting and dating advice.
Last summer I spent a month in Serbia, mostly just walking around Belgrade and drawing with local artists. The cartoonist Aleksandar Zograf suggested that he and I conduct a workshop for the Grrr Festival in his hometown of Pancevo at Gallery Elektrika. My job was to come up with at least 12 pages in either ideas or pencilled drawings for the group of a dozen or so cartoonists to collectively work on, within a span of about six to seven hours. I had about two weeks to work on it, the ideas kept coming and going but nothing stuck. About a week before the workshop Aleksandar informed me that Dusan Makavejev had offered us the original script to his 1968 movie, Innocence Unprotected, to use for the purpose of the workshop. For those who don’t know, my work is hugely influenced by Makavejev’s early films. This was definetly an honour – I got busy at once!
About a dozen of my favorite Serbian cartoonists participated in the festival workshop. After the workshop we screened Makavejev’s Innocence Unprotected, where Makavejev himself, Zograf and myself gave a talk about the film and the workshop experience. As great as the whole day was, the best part came when I was offerred a ride back to Belgrade by the Maks.
Sitting in the back seat of their car, breathing the same air as Mr. and Mrs.Makavejev, I remember thinking, “this is as good as it gets”!
http://crack.forteprenestino.net/2009/index.php
CRACK! festival is the biggest squat in Europe and the wildest four-day party. Forte Prenestrino, a 19th century fortress and an abandoned jail comes alive with hundreds of exhibiting artists, cartoonists, perfomance artists, bands, small press comics and collectives from around the world. Some of the best highlites for me was an incredible surreal burlesque performance by the Barcelona based performance artist Noa Reshef. A group of us participated in her super-heroine workshop, where we made our own super-heroine costumes, to be worn when we handed out invitations to the performance.
Ivana Armanini of Komikaze was there, check out her CRACK! photo report.
Aleksandar Zograf and his wife Gordana were there as well and I enjoyed their company immensly. It was nice to sit and talk in a relaxed atmosphere. A group of us produced a collective drawing on a piece of fabric which Gordana later embroidered.
Some other highlites included the wild Le Dernier Cri boys, Craoman and brothers Guedin. To Let Let and MP5 did an amazing wall painting again. Luca Donnini took some inappropriate pics of me for the next year’s wall of shame outside the forte. I showed some new comics and a few embroidered linens. I wish I could report about how my work was received, but truth to tell, I spent most of my time outside the dungeons, in the courtyard, away from my work.
The local Morroccan dish-water blonde did not impress me. On the other hand, I was impressed by how popular large sized rizzlas are among the hipsters of Rome – this may have made me and my zig zags feel a tad inadequate – that, and the absence of tattoos.
Sewing with Noa and Chantal, one of the organizers was pure pleasure though. The best part of the experience was eating freshly baked italian pastries in downtown Rome at 5:30 am. The cafe/bakery/bar was the only establishment open at the time, the streets were deserted. I walked around a few blocks looking for a cigarette machine. A pack costs about 5 euros. That was the only time I left the fort. It was magical though, downtown Rome – all deserted in that light. Another thing I liked about Rome was the trees - tall, statuesque, top-heavy evergreens – made me think of Giotto’s paintings. All in all, a great experience altogether. My heart-felt gratitude goes to Valerio Bindi, the festival organizer and Luca Donnini for their unmatched hospitality.
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