Inkspot35

Number 35

The Australian Black and White Artists’ Club Inc.

February 2002

17th Stanley Awards for Media Art

Recipients of Stanley trophies at AustraliaÂ’s prestigious cartoonist awards gather in Canberra. Left to right: Tony Lopes, Michael Atchison, Matt Golding, Samantha Irons, Bill Mitchell Award winner Alistair Paton, Bruce Petty, James Kemsley, David Pope and Ky Warren-Langford (Missing In Action David Rowe).

Rod Emmerson ABWAC President

1st Edition February 2002 Inkspot is produced four times a year by The Australian Black and White Artists’ Club Inc. and is posted to all major suburban and regional newspapers and national magazines. Articles, cartoons and information about all sorts of stuff are welcome.

Inkspot ABWAC PO Box 318, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 secretary@abwac.org.au All membership enquiries membership@abwac.org.au

02 9601 7688 2001 National Committee President Rod Emmerson president@abwac.org.au Secretary Peter Broelman secretary@abwac.org.au Treasurer Gary Clark treasurer@abwac.org.au State Vice Presidents Lee Sheppard (NSW) 02 9560 6042 nsw@abwac.org.au Malcolm McGookin (QLD) 07 3822 1821 qld@abwac.org.au Dave Allen (SA/NT) sa@abwac.org.au Vane Lindesay (Vic/Tas) 03 9523 8653 vic@abwac.org.au Mick Horne (WA) 08 9388 9989 wa@abwac.org.au Contents copyright ABWAC or the cartoonist concerned.

Australia Post Registration PP 533798/0015

A big thanks to all those who helped contribute to this issue of Inkspot. All typos are Broelman’s fault.

It’s hard to wrestle to the ground the number of people to thank for their input to the Stanleys in Canberra.

I wish to thank Guy Hansen for his assistance throughout the year and in providing a spectacular venue and inviting us to be part of their conference. The management at Rydges Lakeside for all their help behind the scenes; those who gave up their time to prepare and give talks at the conference and in particular, those who attended, making it all a very worthwhile exercise.

There were many again who saved the day in our attempt to keep costs to an absolute minimum. Roger Fletcher for taking on the hardest role of them all as MC and Peter Broelman and Steve Panozzo for their terrific graphics/sound presentation, providing what has been the best display at a Stanleys yet. Also saving the day was STANLEY RECIPIENTS JAMES Jenny Hughes and Mark Lynch who spent days sorting KEMSLEY (GOLD STANLEY) AND and sifting through the mail. A special thanks also to the BRUCE PETTY (SILVER STANLEY) members of Canberra, who made us feel very welcome and Luke Jansen, of the ACT government who became my eyes and ears on the ground in the lead up time, performing many unseen rescues for us along the way.

Above all else, we collectively thank our sponsors who without their support and enthusiasm the weekend would not have been possible. Warren Brown managed to put the wind up everyone that weekend and for those that are not aware, he’s fully recovered and back delivering his daily dose through the editorial pages of The Telegraph. Beyond all this, 2002 will yield a different Stanleys.

On the 9th of March, all those interested in the future of The Stanleys are invited to attend a special meeting to decide their future. Anyone who has been in an organising capacity will tell you that it is almost a full time position putting a Stanleys together. We do need to evaluate their worthiness, their cost and their credibility. Anyone who has won a Stanley; been nominated or who is passionate about their future should find a couple of hours to attend this meeting. Mark Lynch has through his membership of The Coogee Legion Club, provided us with a beachside venue to thrash this out. There is also a bar and cafeteria for lunch and some elbow-bending. And bring your surf board..the meeting should last a couple of hours.

That night (for those who can’t make it through the day) we’ll be having a postmortem dinner in a city restaurant (details below), which all are welcome to. To do this, we need to know numbers for either or both.

Special meeting venue: Coogee Legion Club, 266a Coogee Bay Rd, Coogee 2034 Date and Time: 10am Saturday 9th March 2002 President’s Dinner: 7pm Saturday 9th March 2002 EST. Restaurant, level 1, Establishment 252 George St, Sydney - www.merivale.com Bookings Essential: Meeting and/or Dinner: Confirm your attendanvce with Rod Emmerson emmers@rocknet.net.au or telephone 0419781759.

Treasurer’s Stanley Reflections - Gary Clark The 2001Canberra Stanley Awards weekend was a financial success. To all club members who came and enjoyed the weekend events, the conference, the catered cartoon exhibition at old Parliament House, the Awards Dinner, the A.G.M. and the numerous informal gatherings over a drink or a meal, thanks for your support. Personally I found the weekend one of the best I’ve attended for the relaxed tone and the opportunity to spend informal quality time with so many fellow members. The 2001 Stanley’s weekend doubly impressed me by delivering so much for so little cost to the club. Congratulations must go to Rod and those who helped him for this achievement. The FREE venue, guest speaker, M.C. (thanks again Roger) saved us $7,000 compared to last year. Further reductions on staging, audio visual, band, printing of Year Books, further reduced the total bill by thousands. The approximate total bill for Stanley’s 2001 came to just under $ 20,000 (a couple of invoices are yet to come in but I have included them).

On the income side, ticket sales and sponsorships gave us a break even and possibly a small profit (the exact amount won’t be known until the latest bank statements arrive on my desk).

What of the future? The Stanley Awards Weekend is here to stay. The economic climate has changed greatly since the first Stanley Awards of 1985. More recently things have changed even further. The corporate sectors willingness to sponsor events has become at best very tentative.

L.J. HOOKER remains a loyal supporter and beneficiary of this club and the Stanley Awards.The Stanleys have a future as an enjoyable excuse for cartoonists to meet and hand out the odd encouragement award. ABWAC has proved to itself that it can do it on a budget and acheive high standards to satisfy and give good value to the companies that think enough of us to invest their sponsorship monies in us and the event.

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The Stanley Awards for Media Art

CANBERRA 2001

STANLEYS WEEKEND It’s not that often James Kemsley is lost for words. Ginger Meggs would have had something witty to say had he’d known that Kemlsey was to be awarded the Gold Stanley for Artist of The Year at the Australian Black and White Artists’ Club’s annual Stanley Awards for Media Art at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

MASTER OF CEREMONIES ROGER FLETCHER COPS A KISS FROM SOUTH AFRICAN CARTOONIST JONATHON SHAPIRO

Coinciding with the National Museum s Bringing The House Down Exhibition at Old Parliament House and Political Cartoon Conference, cartoonists from across Australia gathered for the Stanleys weekend.

Kicking things off on Friday was the ABWAC cartoon conference with special presentations by The Australian s Peter Nicholson and Bill Leak, litigation lawyer Bruce Burke. Seasoned campaigners Vane Lindesay, Stewart McCrae and Geoff Hook entertained the conferernce with their life experiences and Canberra Times Editor-In-Chief Jack Waterford offered his opinions on Australian cartoonists.

Friday night was the official opening of the National Museum s Bringing The House Down political cartoon exhibition.

The National Museum held it s annual Political Cartoon Conference in its new facilities on Saturday which was followed by the Stanley Awards.

On Sunday many ventured to the National Archives to view a Bruce Petty exhibition while others recovered from the partying.

JON KUDELKA, PAT CAMPBELL AND KATHERINE GUY

LORI AND TONY LOPES WITH SEAN LEAHY

Special thanks to Steve Panozzo and Craig Hilton for taking some great photos.

MICK AND DEE HORNE WITH GEOFF HOOK (CENTRE)

MATT GOLDING AND ANDREW WELDON

WittyWorld is alive!

The American-based International cartooning magazine WittyWorld has been revived on the internet and can be viewed on the site: wittyworld.com. Check it out! Just like the magazine then, the web site aims to promote cartoons and bring news from the cartooning world, a calendar of events, articles, reviews etc., the sit e also contains a who is who section, a forum, a censorship page, and sections by genre. Joe Szabo, the original founder of the magazine, is still in charge and is working hard to keep it up to date. Although some of the sections are still blank, the potential of the enterprise is obvious. Many of the original correspondents and editors are again participating, and new ones have joined. The Australian correspondent is Rolf Heimann. If you have any worthwhile news, comment, a cartoon that you are particularly proud of, an idea that you would like to share or other information that you feel should be included, contact Rolf (heimann@primus.com.au), or WittyWorld direct (szabo@voicenet.com).

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The Stanley s Best Cartoon On The Night is partsponsored by d Arenberg.

Congratulations Tony Lopes.

Junior Stanley Awards

CANBERRA 2001

The National Cartooning Competition 2001 Official Judging The Big Day 2001 is the ninth year that L.J. Hooker and ABWAC have joined forces to encourage young cartoonists through the National Cartooning Competition. Once again the competition was a great success with over 10,000 entries.

The winners were Samantha Irons, from Burnside Primary School, South Australia, in the Primary School category and Ky Warren-Langford, from Lynwood Senior High School, WA in the secondary school category. Samantha and Ky were two of more than 100 state finalists from all over Australia all vying for the prestigious Junior Stanley Award for Media Art, and possibly the first step on the path to a career in cartooning.

Western Australia V.P. Mick Horne with Ky Commenting on her win, 12 year old, Samantha Irons said she was very excited. “All the kids at Warren-Langford at the school ask me to do drawings for them, and I just love doing them”, she said.

Stanleys Secondary national winner Ky Warren-Langford said today “I am very honored and very surprised! I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil, drawing everything”.

The 2001 national judging event was held at the historic Queen Victoria Building, Sydney with over 30 VIP judges. Cheez TV hosts Jade & Ryan scored their favourite cartoons alongside the Leader of the NSW Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski, perennial children’s favourite, Mr Squiggle, Country and Western Band ‘The Wolverines’, representatives from the Museum of Contemporary Art, the real estate industry, the media as well as numerous professional cartoonists.

“There are a lot of terrific talent and great gags! We have had a great time today,” said Ryan Lappin, Cheez TV host. “It’s great to see so many up and coming young Australian cartoonists” co-host Jade Gatt said at the national judging.

Kerry Chikarovski, who joined in the fun, said “The competition is great, because it involves schools across the nation and encourages creative learning. The talent here today is amazing and all the schools and children should be very proud!”

Cartoon legend Bruce To view the runners up and highly commended cartoons please visit www.ljhooker.com.au and Petty with Samantha Irons click on the cartooning competition link.

DON T MISS OUT

Left: Ky’s cartoon tops the lot, as secondary category winner for 2001.

DO YOU HAVE EMAIL? GET ON THE ABWAC EMAIL LIST AND KEEP UP TO DATE WITH NEWS AND EVENTS THAT S HAPPENING IN BETWEEN EDITIONS OF INKSPOT. JUST SEND AN EMAIL TO secretary@abwac.org.au AND WE LL PUT YOU IN THE LIST.

Right: Samantha’s clever entry proves to be a winner in the primary category.

17th STANLEY AWARDS FOR MEDIA ART GOLD STANLEY - ARTIST OF THE YEAR JAMES KEMSLEY (DAVID ROWE, STURT KRYGSMAN, MICHAL DUTKIEWICZ, PETER BROELMAN, BILL LEAK) SILVER STANLEY - FOR CONTRIBUTION TO BLACK AND WHITE ART BRUCE PETTY EDITORIAL MICHAEL ATCHISON ROD EMMERSON MARK KNIGHT SEAN LEAHY BILL LEAK JON KUDELKA

CARICATURE DAVID ROWE STURT KRYGSMAN PETER BROELMAN JOANNE APPLEGATE BILL LEAK

COMIC STRIP TONY LOPES JAMES KEMSLEY PETER BROELMAN GARY CLARK MICHAEL ATCHISON 4

SINGLE GAG MATT GOLDING MALCOLM McGOOKIN JON KUDELKA KERRY MILLARD MARK LYNCH

HUMOROUS ILLO. DAVID POPE IAN SHARPE PAT CAMPBELL MALCOLM McGOOKIN KERRY MILLARD

The Stanley Awards for Media Art

CANBERRA 2001

2001 STANLEY AWARDS ROLL CALL New faces dominated the honours list at the Stanley Awards in Canberra. Finalists from each of the categories were from various places around Australia. Since 1987 the peer vote awarded the Gold Stanley to a caricaturist. This year for the first time the ultimate recognition went to a comic strip artist. Nominees were from various places around Australia with the ACT featuring predominately amongst finalists for the first time.

DAVID ROWE - CARICATURE MATT GOLDING - SINGLE GAG

MICHAEL ATCHISON - EDITORIAL DAVID POPE - HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATION FOOTNOTE: TONY AND LORI LOPES JETTED OFF TO EUROPE ON THEIR HONEYMOON LATE LAST YEAR AND MET ONE OF THE EDITORS OF THE DAILY MAIL IN A LONDON PUB. THEY COULDN T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT IT AFTER AN AFTERNOON ON THE GROG BUT THE BEER MUST HAVE WORKED AS INSANITY STREAK, RENAMED THE ODD STREAK, IS NOW A FOUR MONTH FEATURE. GOOD ONYA STONEY!

TONY LOPES - COMIC STRIP 5

SundayBloodySunday

Last year the Sunday Herald Sun dumped the comics creating a stir amongst Australia’s cartoonists. There’s always two sides to a story and Malcolm McGookin went to the top to find out.

QUEENSLANDCARTOON WORKSHOPNEWS

The State Library of Queensland have just held their annual January Cartoon Owing to a recent stoush involving a wholesale dumping of the Workshops, featuring lectures by ABWAC cartoon strips from the pages of Melbourne s Sunday Herald Sun, I phoned members Malcolm McGookin, Sean editor Alan Howe who admits he was personally responsible for the shakeLeahy, Joanne Applegate, Gerard up on the strips front. Wouldn t I just love to report that his decisions were Piper, John Cook and Ken Dove. made in a cavalier fashion, with an anti Australian bias and without entering The workshops have been going into any research, then we could all go get our pitchforks and lighted torches from strength to strength over recent years, and besiege the SHS offices. But it wasn t like that. and this year Malcolm McGookin introduced Actually the guy came across as someone who not only thought a couple of Cartooning For Animation through his reasons for the changes he made, but was prepared to defend lectures for older kids (some were young them without fear or favour. He assured me that he d searched high and low adults, actually) which were very well for suitable Australian content, i.e. a strip or feature that would mean something attended. most young people in Australia today, and quite simply couldn t find one. Not a sausage.

With Gary Clark being unavailable Howe was quite adamant that he d tried every which way to resolve an issue that he felt was (holidays) for the sessions this year, Malcolm important (this is an editor who thinks cartooning is important, I just thought I d emphasise that). He also was asked to co-ordinate the workshops with said he d be prepared to vote in favour of an Aussie strip in the event of any tie in terms of taste, content the State Library, and a determined effort and humour. It s just that the situation didn t (and hasn t since) come up. was made to get the message out to the Remember that poll that was taken amongst Triple J listeners a while back? Remember they further flung schools in the Brisbane area. said they thought that most Australian strips were either bland, insipid or looked like they were drawn in The younger age group workshops the 1930 s? They named names, but I can t, at least not on these pages. were almost full, whilst the older age groups Playing Devil s Advocate here, it could be that a lot of strips, and maybe their creators too, in had the theatre half-filled, and those in Australia have gone way past their sell-by date, and are ready for retirement. Having said that, if your particular showed potential to be fully strip is still selling, why would you retire it? The newspapers have got to accept their complicity in this. subscribed by next year s session.

Maybe the guy at the Sunday Herald Sun is actually a catalyst for positive change. He told me personally In fact, kids interested in cartooning that any suggestion that the SHS would not feature an Aussie strip is false. It s just that he hasn t found one need not wait until 2003 to get to the next he wants. He s still looking and is still interested in any new work. All you have to do is submit it. workshops, as the State Library, encouraged As a Club, whilst we re not responsible for who gets jobs in future, we must accept that as long by the enthusiasm and the success of the as we re prepared to stand on the sidelines and do nothing, the industry will change whether we re part sessions, have some more planned for midof it or not. New editors will bring new brooms, and they ll sweep clean. If there s nothing in Australia to year 2002.

This will be the first time a mid replace the stuff they junk, they ll get it in from outside. That s the clear message. year workshop has been instituted by the I remember when I joined this Club the debate was all about change, and how the Aussie Queensland State Library, and it s evidence cartoon pages were filled with dire old fashioned work. In fact I waxed pretty lyrical about it, if I remember of the growing success of the Cartoon rightly. As time s gone on I got fed up complaining, (and so did everyone else) and so maybe I ve Workshops. become part of the problem. Since then we ve had Trevor, and Insanity Streak come to the fore, but two Unfortunately, Queensland is short swallows don t make a summer (though they pretty much polish off a middy of VB). of qualified speakers, and ABWAC are Encouraging new talent to come through isn t just in the interests of those fresh artists who get looking for some more to fill the breach. printed, it s in the interests of all of us. Some newspapers (as I said before) are to blame for Australia s Joanne is leaving for greyer climes, and even stagnation too. They ll keep printing something for no other reason than it s always been printed. That though we may have the services of Gary way lies madness. Sticking strips to the back of a paper, or hidden within the Form guide withing the Clark next time, that still leaves us shortmotoring section wrapped up in the lifestyle pullout isn t likely to help either. Neither will printing the strips handed for the many lectures planned for at tiny sizes, hoping no-one will notice. the future.

Maybe any catalyst for change, even the wholesale scrapping of a funnies section will ultimately Malcolm did try and rustle up some work, through a twisted sense of logic, in favour of young Aussie cartoonists. Let s hope they re out there. support for these gigs (which are respectably Maybe total decimation will lead to a solid foundation, (I was going to make a reference to Manchester paid, remember?) but some cartoonists United s Munich air disaster here, but forget it...) didn t feel comfortable speaking in public and Anyway, back to that phone call to the SHS editor: Alan Howe was very eloquent in his others (even newspaper cartoonists) just reasoning. He was very dismayed that cartooning in Australia was no longer a repository of couldn t be contacted. contemporary thought , a phrase I deemed good enough to jot down. Can t argue with that, though I There s every indication that these doubt if Donald Duck is either. He also felt that Australian cartooning was atrophying. I for one won t cartoon workshop lectures could be disagree, I ve been saying so for years, but we as a Club will have no bearing on that unless we actually duplicated in every state, bringing in a handy decide that we re going to be part of the solution. That s up to the members, but I for one don t want to be bit of cash for the libraries, as well as those a part of what eventually becomes the world s oldest cartoon talking shop, prepared to stand around and cartoonists who want to take the trouble to watch while the industry wastes away. I d rather stick needles in me eyes! organize them.

It s twice as painful for me to write these comments in the months after Jim Russell s funeral, but If anyone wants to get the inside Jim was actually (at 93) one of the most irreverent and youthful thinkers we had. It s quite poignant that info on how these can be organized in their this issue comes up so soon after we laid the old rascal to rest. It looks increasingly like The Potts, his strip own state, (prices, class modules, etc) call for over sixty years will be laid to rest with him. An era has passed. Let s recognise that.

Malcolm McGookin on (07) 3822 1821.

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NEWS FROM THE BUNKER BUNKER CARTOON GALLERY, COFFS HARBOUR

With another brand new year upon us, we take time out to reflect on the year that was for the Bunker Cartoon Gallery. The outstanding success of the Special “Federation Exhibition”, made up from cartoons which cartoonists submitted for the 2000 Rotary Cartoon Awards.

The opening of our current Ginger Meggs Exhibition coincided with the 80th birthday celebrations for this Australian Icon and features the works of all four creators Bancks, Vivian, Piper and Kemsley. This has surpassed all our expectations and planning. This is the first exhibition which our new Exhibitions Officer, Toni Maree Southwell has orchestrated and is unlike anything we have done before. Memorabilia from Kemsley’s own personal collection has been supported by local collectors and contains irreplaceable pieces covering the past 80 years, including the last strip Bancks was working on when he passed away in 1952, and the original Us Fellas strip from 1921.

Try and make an effort to see it because when we look at the losses cartooning has sustained over the past 12 months; Charles Shultz, our beloved Jim Russell and more recently Eric Jolliffe, who knows who or what is going to be taken from us next.

How fortunate it was that Bancks had the foresight to give permission for Meggs to live on through other artists. As James Kemsley himself said at our Birthday Celebrations, all of the Meggs creators passed

ERIC JOLLIFFE 1907 - 2001

DAVID ROWE S WINNING ENTRY IN THE ROTARY CARTOON COMPETITION AT COFFS HARBOUR LAST YEAR on in their 60’s. Amazing how he can still keep his sense of humour with that thought at the back of his head!

Good news for the ABWAC. Tom Hamilton-Foster has agreed to carry on as President of the Bunker Cartoon Gallery for another year. Tom is a great benefactor and supporter of Black and White Art in Australia and the Australian Black and White Artists’ Club.

See you at the Bunker Cartoon Gallery.

Margaret Bridgman

Born in Portsmouth, England in 1907, Eric emigrated with his large family to Western Australia in 1911 and settled in Sydney four years later.

At 16 Eric left home and headed for the bush where he roamed country towns and worked many jobs.

In 1928 Eric discovered art and he enrolled in night art classesback in Sydney.

In 1932 he met and married Mary (May) Clark and had one daughter Margaret. Eric, living close to The Bulletin, sent in many submissions about the harsh reality of the bush before they gave him his first break in 1934. He soon became a regular contributor replacing Arthur Horner who moved to Smith s Weekly.

Eric joined the RAAF when WW2 broke out and it was during his service that he met tribal aborigines in Arnhem Land and the Kimberleys. He quickly developed a deep appreciation of their love and understanding of their country and their complex social and cultural life. He realised that no cartoonists had drawn tribal aborigines.

After the war Eric joined Smith s Weekly but again found it hard to get his cartoons on aborigines and the outback accepted. He resigned and moved to country NSW where he continued his artwork and researched what was to become Saltbush Bill .

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When he returned to Sydney Saltbush Bill was accepted by Pix which ran it for nearly 50 years.

Eric began publishing his own books containing Saltbush Bill, Witchetty s Tribe and Sandy Lakes. By the late 70 s sales has surpassed six million.

In 1981 Eric became the first honorary Life Member of the Bordertown and Districts Agricultural Museum. Two years later he was appointed a fellow of the Australian Institute of History and Arts. In 1985 and 1986 he was rewarded with two Stanley Awards for single gag.

In 1988 the racism issue dogged him. Some of his cartoons were included in a book, 200 In The Shade, about racist attitudes towards aborigines. Eric was shocked and hurt and didn t think the criticism was justified. He had spent 50 years drawing cartoons about aborigines, contrasting their life with that of European Australians.

In May 1998 Eric was awarded the Order of Australia for services to art as a cartoonist and illustrator. By this time his books of cartoons, comics and writing had sold in excess of 12 million copies.

May died in 1993 and he also lost Meg in 1997.

Eric died in his sleep at his home in Bateau Bay 16 November 2001.

He is survived by his grand daughter Jane Emerson.

VIVA LA Louis “Pol” Postruzin keep racking up International awards.

Late last year Pol collected his 52nd Internationl award at the 10th Daejon International Cartoon Contest in South Korea.

Caricaturists Steve Panozzo and Stephen Case after too many drinks after a corporate Christmas party in Sydney. Steve also received a Certificate of Appreciation for ABWAC from the Ladies of Variety for assisting at the special children’s Christmas Party.

Good onya Noz, Richard Jones, Roger Fletcher, Mark Lynch and Chris Kelly!

At the same time Pol was nominated from 1,691 entries to the Dong-A LG International Festival of Comins, Animation and Games (DIFECA) in Seoul. The regular overseas festival entrant is Australia’s most internationally awarded cartoonist.

Paul Parv discovers another Valerie Parv at Parliament House in Canberra. Valerie, a romance novelist, was honoured by Peoplescape, a Centenary of Federation project.

Rumours that Paul took the wrong Valerie home are completely false.

ABWAC CHAPTER NEWS FROM VICTORIA Victoria Vice President Vane Lindesay has scheduled the year ahead for ABWAC’s Melbourne based members (and anyone else who’d like to tag along).

The Grace Darling Hotel in Collingwood remains the venue BUT the dates have changed.

ABWAC now meets on Tuesday nights (thanks to band noise) every second month.

So put these dates in your diary: March 5, May 7, July 2, September 3, November 5 and December 3. Start time for each date is 6.30pm.

Vane goes to quite some preparation to ensure that these nights are interesting and enjoyable. Telephone Vane on 03 9523 8635. He’d love to hear from you.

Caricaturist enthusiasts Jim Bridges and Paul Harvey have organised caricature meetings at Dimattina’s in Lygon Street on a semi-regular basis where caricaturists can talk shop, show works and have a good feed.

ABWAC stalwart Tony Rafty was a special guest speaker at their last meeting just a couple of weeks ago. Jim, who has other caricature projects in the pipeline, would love to hear from any caricaturist so give him a ring on 03 9748 2510.

Phil Somerville has been spinning cartoons for over 15 years. They manage to get to those hard-to-reach places at the back of the mind’s bottom shelf. By turns whimsical, lyrical, frank or refreshingly strange, he asks only one thing: laugh ‘til you think. This, his first published book collection, contains cartoons drawn in a rest area with a clear view of human traffic. They bear bewildered witness to the foolish and the paradoxic, the dreamy and the absurd. 96 pages of B/W and 8 in colour dissect every subject under the reading light from God, sex, death, art, war, drugs and lawnmowing to technology, consumerism, children, women & men, the cosmos and multi-coloured testicles. Many are previously unseen. Others were originally published in a wide array of publications including The Bulletin, Nexus,Together, The Australian’s Review of Books, The Independent and the Sydney Morning Herald. Phil’s work currently appears weekly in the SMH and The Sun Herald.

Enquiries: Keiran Rogers keiranrogers@hardiegrant.com

JOHN ROGERS AND TONY RAFTY AT THE VICTORIAN CARICATURISTS MEETING

SPECIAL GUEST MAX WALKER WARMS UP THE CROWD AT DIMATTINA S 8