SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2003
- Zograf was a guest at a series of international events including a new
comics festival held in Graz, Austria, then a comics festival in Bergen and
a literature festival in Stavanger, both in Norway... London's Salon Des
Arts hosted an interesting event called New Voices from Serbia/Shot by Both
Sides, at which Tony White (novelist and literary editor of The Idler
magazine) and Ada Gadomski (of the Opala Group) presented a group of artists
from the Serbian independent scene. Present were Vladimir Arsenijevic,
Hajdana Baletic and Milena Markovic, representatives of the new literature
scene in Serbia, along with Aleksandar Zograf, a humble cartoonist. Last,
but not least, Zograf was a guest at a Book Fair in Pula, on the Croatian
seaside. The common thread to all these events was that Zograf exhibited his
artworks and talked to the audience while presenting his new set of slides.
- Back home, in October, Zograf directed the second annual Pancevo Comics
Festival, called GRRR!. As usual, GRRR! hosted a group of independent
cartoonists from several countries. Among the exhibitions, was one curated
by Zdravko Zupan and dedicated to comics published in Serbia during WW2.
This was the first exhibition concentrating on this turbulent period in the
illustration/comics scene in this country. The most important national
independent weekly Vreme devoted much space to this show, referring to it on
their front page!
- A book titled PEOPs, containing "Portraits & Stories of People by Fly,"
published by Soft Skull Press ( http://www.softskull.com/ ), includes a
section dedicated to Zograf (also portrayed are Chuck Sperry, Eric Drooker,
etc). The author behind this project is Fly, one of the most intriguing
voices of the American small press scene. She previously did a sketchbook
note on Zograf, concentrated around his 2002 presentation at the Cartoon
Art Museum in San Francisco. This was published in Fly's mag Total Disaster
(see her web site http://www.killerbanshee.com/fly).
- Along with constant activity at home, where he works on a two-page weekly
strip for Vreme, Zograf participated to several international
projects--including a page published in a book and shown at an exhibition
dedicated to French-Iranian cartoonist Marjane Satrapi. The project was held
in Ravenna and curated by the good people of Mirada Associazione.
Zograf's more recent stories appeared in the quality Dutch comics magazine
Zone 5300 ( #64 ), and in the 4th issue of Sturgeon White Moss
(http://www.whitemosspress.com), London's newest independent comics
anthology, which includes works by Sophie Crumb, Pakito Bolino, Marc Bell,
etc.
July - August 2003
- New York's Whitney Museum is hosting an exhibition entitled "American
Effect," and it's catalogue contains an 8-page story ("How I met America")
by Zograf. The DHL carrier firm had a hard time delivering a 20-some kilo
package containing multiple copies of the thick and very well bound catalogue to Zograf's home
in Pancevo. The show itself is presenting works by artists from all over the
world reflecting on the ways that America has influenced their lives,
culture and politics.
- "Aleksandar Zograf's World of Objects" was an event held at Studio 21
in Pancevo, where Zograf took his favorite objects from a bag and showed
them to the curious (or rather puzzled) audience. Among the oddities and
objects presented were a Green Mickey Mouse made in Russia, an Indian
arrowhead from Ohio, a Neolithic pin, and a Japanese Robot-Owl toy that
Zograf used to play with as a child. .
May - June 2003
- Together with a group of Croatian cartoonists gathered around the
Komikaze fanzine, Aleksandar Zograf and Gordana Basta travelled to France to
take part in exhibitions/presentations/lectures/signing sessions held in
various locations in Bordeaux. The second issue of an interesting new
magazine called La Lunette (which provided the program for the events)
published Zograf's story "Y a-til la vie dans les Balkans?" ("Is there life
in the Balkans?").
- A presentation of a new issue of Kuhinja (The Kitchen) magazine was
held near the flea market in Pancevo. It was actually a happening called
ARTIST, PICK UP THE GARBAGE!, and was free from any "artistic content" .
Friends of The Kitchen workshop simply came with plastic bags and picked up
garbage that was piled on the outskirts of one of the biggest (and dirtiest)
flea markets in the Balkans. The action was assisted by some Romanians who
were selling stuff in the zone where selling was prohibited.
- Lisbon's comics festival, Salao Lisboa 2003: Ilustraçao e Banda
Desenhad, hosted two cartoonists from Serbia, Aleksandar Opacic and
Aleksandar Zograf. Selections from Regards from Serbia strips were
exhibited together with works by Joe Sacco, a contemporary alternative
cartoonists from Germany (authors such as Atak, Anke
Feuchtenberger, and others), Stripburger magazine selections, etc. Satelite
Internacional, a book-bound comics magazine published in Porto, has
published a story titled "A Balkan Family" (script by Gordana Basta, art by
Aleksandar Zograf), in its latest issue.
- "Ice Cream in the Dump," a story by David Lasky, based on Zograf's
e-eails during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, came out in issue #
88 of a German comics magazine, Mogamobo.
- The launch issue of Inguine, a new Italian alternative comics
magazine , has published a Zograf' story titled "Koder". Zograf and Basta
were present at the opening of a fine-art exhibition "Adriati c/o" held in
Ravenna. Along with the works of new and upcoming Italian artists, a
selection of Hypnagogic Images was on display in a new Ravenna venue,
actually an ex-kindergarten.
JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH - APRIL 2003
-The
new Aleksandar Zograf book has been published in Serbia - it's entitled
Mesec i ognjeno srce ( The Moon and the Heart on Fire ). Downtown
Belgrade was decorated with a big bilboard announcing the realease
of this collection of comics (mostly stuff published previously
in magazines and anthologies in US and Europe). The book was presented
in several towns in Serbia, but also in Zagreb (Croatia), where
Zograf (through the collaboration with Komikaze) has also presented
his slide lecture, and exhibited his works in a venue called Mocvara.
-An Italian monthly magazine dedicated to comic news and criticism, Fumo di China, has published a 7 page overview of the GRRR! comics festival, including interviews with Zograf, Chris Lanier, Maaike Hartjes and Mark
Hendriks. The Comics Journal also printed an inspired report on GRRR! by Chris Lanier, in issue #251; positively must be checked out!.
- Vreme - Serbia's most important national independent weekly, launched 2 pages of comics by Zograf in each issue. It is the first time a magazine of that kind in Serbia has published comics...
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