Cost ECC Exhibition and catalogue

If there existed a Champions League for cartoonists, Cost (Constantin Sunnerberg, Belgium, °1970) certainly would be selected as one of the key players in the game. Why? Just look at his cartoons and you'll be overwhelmed by not only the beautiful colors, the poetic expression and fine humor but also by the deeper layer and message of his art.

Saturday 20 June was the opening of the Cost exhibition in the ECC and I must say, the cartoons are great and it's worth visiting the ECC.

The exhibition catalogue costs 10 euro and is available in the ECC.

Learn more:
Cost House Cartoonist ECC 2015 (bio)
Cost on our blog
Cartoon Gallery Cost

exhibition catalogue

Bart De Wever and Elio Di Rupo (Belgian politicians) as super heroes...

beaucoup de monde...

Saskia presenting the exhibtion

Cost caught in action...

1815 - Waterloo - Exit Napoleon

18 June is not only my birthday, but it's also the day when the Battle of Waterloo took place, now 200 years ago.

In this commemoration year of Waterloo, I want to mention again the excellent cartoon (caricature) book  The Napoleontic Wars in Cartoons by Mark Bryant.(Grub Street London, 2009, 160 pages).

One cartoon below was published just 200 years ago.

If you like some other Napoleon cartoons, you can read the article I wrote on this blog in July 2010: "Waterloo, Napoleon, a bike and cartoon books"...

Below some pics I took a few years a ago during a cycle ride ...

Half-Naked Knight by André François

What can one buy for 1.99 euro, if one's lucky? This book for example. I found it in in a box with second-hand books box between some comic strips. This book, dated 1958, is by the French cartoonist André François (1915-2005).

“Of those cartoonists who use no words André François is the most original artist, and his jokes have a touch of wild poetic melancholy”  “One laughs, certainly- and ‘certainly’ is to be taken literally because we have never known anyone, young or old, who didn’t. But after the funny-ha-ha in these drawings one sees the funny-disconcerting, the funny-ironic, sometimes the funny-horrific.”  François was a good friend of Ronald Searle and is one of the great illustrators of the twenthieth century.

Learn more:

André François on Wikipedia

Obituary in The Guardian

Documentary André François. Artist - Poet on YouTube:

Satirix - Cardon edition

Satirix "La revue qu'on ne jette pas..." '(the magazine that one does not throw away) was first published in 1971 by Lucien Grand-Jouan. This French magazine counts sixteen pages dedicated to one artist who choose his own theme: Barbe, Cardon, Dubout, Effel, Serre, Siné, Tetsu...
As with many satiric magazines, it didn't last a long time. After only 2 years and 26 publications, the magazine ceased publication.

One of the copies I own is n°13 dedicated to Jacques-Armand CARDON (°1936, Lorient).

Learn more:
Cardon on Facebook

Ares - 100 Awarded cartoons

I don't have the book yet, buts it looks great:

"A diverse, astonishing collection. So many prizewinning drawings…
They are now grouped together for a first contact. Or for a revisualization of Ares’s already viewed works. It is a proving compendium.
Ares will remain bound to poetry, testimony and reflection, better thinking the future course of his work and, as a rule, resetting it in precise, alerting books.

Of all his books, this is one of the most complete because it is perhaps his best hallmark among the vast community of cartoonists. And it holds a key position within it: the judges have deemed it so as well. It illustrates the universality he has achieved through the years. It is a faithful contribution. Art and more. Visual writing. Stone."

140 pages full illustrated with 100 Awarded Cartoons by Ares.  . Size 17x24 /.ISBN 978-960-973-412-8 / 16 eur

Available on: http://www.cartoonark.com/products/ares-100-awarded-cartoons

Learn more:
Ares  

10 Cartoonists from Flanders?

ECC fans know that the European Cartoon Center offers a travelling cartoon exhibition of Belgian cartoonists named "10 Cartoonists from Belgium". I recently received a copy of the Hungarian catalogue from the exhibition entitled "10 Cartoonists from Flanders". It's the same exhibition...Flanders? Belgium?
Well, in our country things are a bit complicated.
To inform you, I recommend this clip Belgium for dummies ... (confusing isn't it?).
Maybe now you will understand why Belgium is the country of surrealism with world famous artists as Magritte, Delvaux, ... and (more than) 10 outstanding gag cartoonists.

 The exhibition started in Turkey (in Eskisehir) and recently landed in Hungary.

In fact, one of the cartoonists in the catalogue is not really "from Flanders", but "from Brussels" (and from Belgium). It's Cost and of course we all love him. He's a nice guy and he feels good amongst all the Flemish cartoonists (and vice versa).

The 10 cartoonists, 10 of the best gag cartoonists in Belgium are:
(click for more information)

Luc Descheemaeker (O-SEKOER)

Luc Vernimmen

Luc Vermeersch

Stefaan Provijn 

Jan Dufour

Tony Houbrechts

Ludo Goderis

Nikola Hendrickx (IOA)

Constantin Sunnerberg (Cost) 

Norbert Van Yperzeele

Constantin Sunnerberg (Cost)

Tony Houbrechts

Jan Dufour

Luc Vermeersch

Luc Vernimmen

Ludo Goderis

Nikola Hendrickx (IOA)

Norbert Van Yperzeele

Luc Descheemaeker (O-SEKOER)

Stefaan Provijn

Learn more:
catalogue in PFD
Visit Flanders , visit Belgium...

Hanzz Karikaturen

He's a welcome guest everywhere he goes out to draw people on family and enterprise parties in Belgium or abroad. He likes to come to the ECC to meet with other cartoonists and caricaturists... let's introduce Hanzz (Hans Deconinck, °1960, Izegem, Belgium). In 2013 he had an exhibition in the ECC and it's there where I learned to know this kind artist.  At that time he didn't have a catalogue or caricature book, and that's why I didn't introduce him earlier.

ECC exhibition 2013

Belgian former King Albert by Hanzz

2013 ECC 

Toots Thielemans by Hanzz

Marco D'Agostino and Hanzz (ECC)

caught in action, drawing Marco D'Agonstino (ECC)

But now it's so far: he published a catalogue with about 46 of his best caricatures of famous people. Hanzz is an ardent user of digital media. He is a lead user testing different beta-versions of drawing tablets (Wacom) and drawing software as Paintshop Pro9 and ArtRage. To make a portrait, I thought Hanzz started scanning a photo of the person, and then manipulated that picture. But that's not the case. His caricatures a drawn by hand on the tablet with the specific software. The results are astonishing as you can see in the scans below...

Kim Young Un by Hanzz  (I had a problem with my scanner,
sorry for bad scan quality, original drawing is excellent)

Karl Lagerfeld by Hanzz

Stan Laurel by Hanzz

Charles Bronson by Hanzz

Let's end with the wise words of Hanzz himself: "Let the fun be with you".


Hanzz Karikaturen costs 10 eur. Contact Hanzz for a copy.
contact Hanzz: hans@hanzz.be

Learn more:
Biography on Hanzz.be
Hanzz-digitals.blogspot.be
follow Hanzz on facebook
Hanzz on Instagram