ALEKSANDAR ZOGRAF WEB PAGE
UPDATES
OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2010

 After the incident and scandal involving Serbian hooligans at a football match in Genova, Zograf was interviewed by the paper with the biggest print run in Italy, La Gazzetta dello sport, despite the fact that Zograf  unofficially admits that  he hates football (in Italian):
http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2010/ottobre/15/Arrestati_ultra_Calcio_congelato_Controlli_ga_10_101015009.shtml

In early October, as a guest of the Komikazen Festival in Ravenna, Aleksandar Zograf conducted a workshop and a presentation of his new Italian book, ‘Storie’. His comics were also exhibited at Ravenna’s MAR - Museo d’Arte della città, along with the original pages by a host of of international cartoonists including Maximilien Le Roy from France,  Pablo Alaudell from Spain and Alecos Papadatos from Greece.

Read an article on Zograf at Kamikazen by Marco Riciputi (in English) http://www.wavemagazine.net/topic/komikazen-aleksandar-zograf.htm

(the article translated into Serbian)
http://www.wavemagazine.net/0_srb/tema/aleksandar-zograf-ravena.htm

...and an interview with Zograf conducted during the Komikazen festival for the website Peace Reporter (in English):
http://en.peacereporter.net/articolo/24889/The+world+described+by+Zograf%26rsquo%3Bs+pencil

On October 19th, Aleksandar Zograf participated in Belgrade’s October Salon, which is one of the major national events dedicated to contemporary art. Taking part to a program called Artist Talks About Artist, Zograf gave a talk about Respite, a film by Harun Farocki, a German filmmaker of Czech descent. Respite consists of silent  film shots made in 1944 by a prisoner at Westerbork, Holland, a NAZI camp for Jews fleeing Germany.

festival in Erfurt

On November 11th, Zograf was a guest of Fahreinhart, a radio show dedicated to literature, at the Radio 3 studio in Rome. http://www.radio.rai.it/radio3/fahrenheit/mostra_evento.cfm?Q_EV_ID=321530#

November 12th Zograf appeared at Perugia’s FORUM DEL LIBRO (Book Forum), where he was speaking on his work in comics as part of the discussion conducted by Silvana Sola.

Zograf’s new Serbian book, entitled Osveta crvena veštice (Revenge of the Red Witch), was launched on  November 14th at an event in Novi Sad, Comics Weekend. The book was presented in Belgrade as well, at Grad, during an event conducted by one of the most respected Serbian writers, Vladimir Pištalo.

Aleksandar Zograf was a guest of a comics-related radio show, Il  Garage ermetico, broadcasted December 18th by several radio stations across Italy ( Radio Sherwood /Padova/, Radio Kairos / Bologna/, Radio Popolare /Salento/). A talk with Zograf was part of a radio special dedicated to comics journalism. Read a note and listen to the show (in Italian) :  http://garagermetico.blogspot.com/2010/12/giornalismo-fumetti-2.html

 Talento Local, a collection of comics by the Portuguese cartoonist Marcos Farrajota, features a Zograf/Farrajota collaboration, a jam comic story in which both artists were simultaneously commenting on events in their respective towns - Pančevo and Lisbon at the midnight hour -   http://chilicomcarne.blogspot.com/2010/12/talento-local.html


APRIL - SEPTEMBER 2010

Zograf was published in the new issue of the Spanish magazine Que Suerte, presented on April 15th in Madrid's La Aguja, and on April 22nd at New York's Giant Robot.. 
 TV report from Madrid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reGH9_aMTUs  (in Spanish)
 
May 21th - The comics festival in Budapest launched Zograf's second Hungarian book published by Open Book (Nyitott Konyvmuhely) - the signing session lasted for the entire run of the festival! http://index.hu/kultur/klassz/2010/05/24/ket_dijat_soport_be_a_magyar_tim_burton/
http://bookself.hu/bookfenc/cikkek/reszletek/tudatos_hataratlepesek_356/
 
Aleksandar Zograf is one of the Serbian authors (along with  artists from Austria, Hungary and Bulgraia) whose works were on display from June 12th to November 1st at the exhibition titled Central Europe Revisited. The show is held at the unusual and splendid site of  Esterházy Castle in Eisenstadt, Austria. 
 

As part of the 20th Cellebration of the infamous French independent comics publisher L'Association's, their  collaborators, including Zograf, were invited to create a page of a comic which would be a comment on one of their older works.  Both original and brand new pages by authors were exhibited in Sierre, Switzerland, in early June, and reprinted in the book titled XX/MMX, which includes works by JC Menu, Julie Doucet, Marjane Satrapi, Placid, Kiki & Loulou Picasso, Balnquet and many more. Zograf commented on his own REGARDS FROM SERBIA page, originally published in Bons Baisers de Serbie.
See the report on book and L’Association’s aniversary made by ARTE Tv - http://www.arte.tv/fr/Comprendre-le-monde/arte-journal/3163352,CmC=3274984.html

Alter-malter is a web venture dedicated to rare audio material. They  have posted year 2000 recordings from Subotica's Mini Radio, where Zograf would talk on the phone about his travels and thoughts. The show was titled "Čudesni svet Aleksandra Zografa" (The Wonderful World of Aleksandar Zograf). All in Serbian.
http://alter-malter.net1zen.com/?p=366
Also, you can download the entire CD made in 2001, as a one-off project by Zograf's comics workshop Kuhinja (The Kitchen). Aside from the unofficial anthem of Kuhinja, the CD contains recordings of bands from Zograf's native Pančevo: http://alter-malter.net1zen.com/?p=1300

 
Zograf's early July exhibition in Vodnjan / Dignano, in Istria (Croatia)- http://regionalexpress.hr/site/more/izloba-i-predstavljanje-radova-aleksandra-zografa/  , was followed by an extensive interview which came out in Novi List daily (in Croatian) http://www.stomugromova.com/images/stories/aleksandar_zograf.jpg  and there was a mini-exhibition of the 2 page strip that Zograf has created ABOUT Vodnjan : http://regionalexpress.hr/site/more/promocija-stripa-o-vodnjanu/
 
Zograf is among the international host of artists to be featured in the latest edition of Milan's PUCK magazine. See the superb animated preview of this edition - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9qN7yio-n0
 
As an organizer of the series of events (mostly) dedicated to comics, by the name of GRRR! Program, Zograf made possible a show dedicated to Portuguese comics initiative Chili Com Carne in his hometown of Pančevo. This is the report by a local TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Ih3ETzuTM . The same TV station reported about another event conducted by Zograf, dedicated to Elektrika, Pančevo's alternative venue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQwSavbsXo8&feature=player_embedded

Storie - a new selection of Zograf's Vreme strips came out as a joint production of the Italian film production house/publisher  Fandango, and Coconino Press - http://www.fandango.it/default.asp?idlingua=1&idContenuto=2077  the book was favourably reviewed in respected national daily La Repubblica. More information (in Italian): http://www.balcanicaucaso.org/ita/Libreria/Copertine/Storie-in-giro-per-lo-spaziotempo-con-Aleksandar-Zograf .The book is going to be presented at the approaching KOMIKAZEN festival, in Ravenna, where Zograf will speak about Storie on October 10th.
 
At the Museum of Modern Art of Saint Etienne an exhibition of the works by several local artists, along with the New Art Made in Serbia is on display from September 18th to December 5th. The show includes pages from Zograf's Vestiges du monde comics collection, published by L'Association, next to works by Predrag Damjanović, Slavica Lazić Dundas and Ivana Smiljanić.
 
Originally presented at Angouleme earlier this year, the CENT POUR CENT exhibition, for which Zograf has created a page commenting Cliff Sterrett's classic strip Polly and her Pals,  has been openned in Paris' Bibliothèque Forney on September 23rd. 

Food Comics is the title of a mini comic by Zograf which came out as part of the comics package put out by Austrian collective Unkraut. It's an English language edition (although Zograf's comic is wordless) which includes works by cartoonists from Serbia (Vuk Palibrk) and Austria (Stöger/Raffetseder). See the detailed explanation and preview - http://www.unkraut-comics.at/blog/?p=483

MARCH 2010


In early March, Zograf was a guest lecturer at the Ethnology/Anthropology group of the Faculty of Philosophy, in Belgrade. The  topic of his lecture was 'the flea market as a place of  exchange and discovery of cultural artifacts' – illustrated by his own flea market related comics and finds.

The Student Cultural Center in Belgrade hosted a presentation of the book titled “Comics, Life and Death of Veljko Kockar”, written by Zdravko Zupan, with an introduction by Saša Rakezić aka Aleksandar Zograf. Both Zupan and Zograf were present, and featured in a video dedicated to this event – http://www.live-e.tv/video-prilog/etv-22-03-2010/strip-tv-veljko-kockar-strip-%C5%BEivot-smrt

The show based on Comics anthology "Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption", which includes works by Aleksnadar Zograf, Bryan Talbot, Dylan Horrocks, Pat Mills and many more, is recently touring UK. From March 16 to 28, it was on display at Liverpool's Contemporary Urban Centre - http://www.artinliverpool.com/blog/2010/03/ctrl-alt-shift-unmasks-corruption-in-liverpool/

Belgrade gallery Remont hosted a show titled Parallel Worlds of Aleksandar Zograf, which included his CD, book cover and poster designs, embroideries (by Gordana Basta), illustrations, and comics. A report from the opening is featured at http://www.artinfo.rs/ceo_profil.php?korisnik_id=587#info_81

Nina Bunjevac, a prominent cartoonist and a friend, residing in Toronto, did an overview of her last year’s workshop held in the land of her ancestors. Workshop, as part of Zograf’s GRRR!Program,  was based on a movie by legendary Serbian director, Dušan Makavejev, who was  participating the event in person - http://ninabunjevac.com/?p=28

Zograf’s latest Serbian book , “Polovni svet” (Seconhand World) was presented in the Student Cultural Center of Niš. Part of the talk was dedicated to a Zograf’s comic, included in a book, based on an early SF novel ( “Notes from a 2349 Travel” by Apostol Vandjelović aka Miloš Andjelković) , written by a school profesor from Niš back in 1909.

 

FEBRUARY 2010



Zograf's in-depth article (signed with his real name, not a pseudonym) on findings at an Neolithic site (Stubline, 40 km away from Belgrade), has been given four pages of the political weekly Vreme (in Serbian): http://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=911228

Life Under Sanctions, a story published in a 1994 book by Fantagraphics Books, has been translated into Polish and exhibited at the LIGATURA festival in Poznan, which focuses on East/Central European Comics. See the info in English - http://kushkomikss.blogspot.com/2010/01/ligatura-2010.html

Donau

A Dutch magazine, Donau, has dedicated its entire issue to comics from the South-East of Europe. The magazine includes articles (in English) on the history of Serbian comics (by Zdravko Zupan), a history of Bulgarian comics (by Yana Genova), and many other interesting goodies, including an overview of the Disney-inspired productions in pre-WW2 Eastern Europe. The cover of the magazine was made by Aleksandar Zograf. Info (in Dutch) - http://www.platformspartak.eu/log/archief/Tijdschrift-Donau-uit-over-Strips!.htm . For the Dutch- speakers, Donau magazine and its home organization Platform Spartakus have made available online the interview that Zograf gave to the national paper NRC Handelsblad, http://www.platformspartak.eu/log/uploads/interviewsashazografnrc.jpg.

In November 2008, when The Residents had their show in Belgrade, Aleksandar Zograf spent an evening in their company. For the first time, the interview that Zograf made with the mysterious San Franciscan combo is available in English, Serbian and Hungarian at the ZOGRAF WRITES section of Aleksandar Zograf Web Page, see for yourself at http://www.aleksandarzograf.com/writes.html

 



JANUARY 2010

Aleksandar Zograf is one of the contemporary cartoonists who was asked to illustrate a page of a comics' classic as part of an exhibition entitled Cent Pour Cent in Angouleme, France. 

One hundred comics artists from around the globe were asked to choose a piece by a classic artist from the huge collection in Angouleme's comic art museum (La cite Internationale de la monde designe et la image ). The idea was to comment on or re-imagine a comics page by masters such as Herriman, McCay, Crumb and 97 others. Then, both classic work and the modern comment on it were exhibited next to each other. As his contribution, Zograf created his own take on page by Cliff Sterrett.

Among the participating artists are Ben Katchor, Scott McCloud, Joost Swarte, Carlos Nine, Maja Veselinovic and many others. The works were, of course, visible during the latest edition of the Angouleme International Comics Festival and will be on display there until March 28th, when it will be transferred to Bilbao. In September, the works will be presented at the Paris Bibliothèque Forney (bibliothèque des arts graphiques de la Ville de Paris). See the press release at http://www.citebd.org/IMG/pdf/DP_cent_pour_cent-2.pdf and an info http://www.citebd.org/spip.php?article568    

The Festival International  de la BD at AngoulemeZograf created the design for a CD release entitled ‘Kalifonija’ by Rebelstar (a band with an international line-up, singing in Serbian) – for a review of the release (in Serbian) see http://www.popboks.com/tekst.php?ID=7848, My Space page http://www.myspace.com/rebelstarmusic   

An exhibition conceived in Latvia and called ‘The Last Match’, has been transfered to Lisbon's Artside gallery. The opening was held on January 7th - http://chilicomcarne.blogspot.com/2009/08/last-match.html 

A review (in English) of Zograf's Serbian book, "Polovni svet", is available at: http://splintercomics.blogspot.com/2010/01/aleksandar-zograf-second-hand-world.html while another review of the same volume was written by ethnologist/anthropologist Ildiko Erdei (in Serbian): http://pancevackipres.com/sh/100/70/4547/   

On January 21st, Milano's Don Gallery had an opening of an exhibition dedicated to comics and illustrations connected to underground magazines, The Artist and Puck.  Along with the presence  of British comics legend Hunt Emerson, and a presentation of the first issue of Puck, an exhibition, open until March 6th, presents a selection of original drawings  by Gilbert Shelton, Squaz, Aleksandar, Zograf and many other artists. 

http://www.thedongallery.com/#current_show/puck_show

http://www.milanoweb.com/notizie-milano/arte-e-cultura/7039_-the-don-gallery-dedica-una-mostra-alla-rivista-puck 
 

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