TINYSTAR MAGAZINE - Issue number 2, October 2020

NEW ART FOR A NEW AGE

Number Two - 2020

HORROR VACUI

IN THIS ISSUE Yves Hänggi, Nils Bertho, Mavado Charon, Big Baboli from Istambul, Zaida González, Mat, Fergus Nm, Horror Vacui Dossier

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Opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.The graphic content displayed is responsabillity of its respective creators.

Editor: Leonardo Casas Art Director: Clem D’Cantel Advertising: Eliana García 2020. All rights retained by respective artists.

Sales, Submissions, subscription inquires and other Estrellita Mía editions contact: Estrellita Mía Editions Address: Challacollo 107-A apt. 304 Ñuñoa - R.M. Santiago de Chile Postal Code: 7800006 Printed & Edited in Santiago de Chile email: editorestrellitamia@gmail.com

O 3232323 TinyStar is an english version of chilean fanzine displaying the most exciting of today’s artistic expressions.

Each issue is filled with original art, illustration, photography, interviews, pop music, poetry going on at the fringes of culture.

www.tinystarmagazine.wordpress.com fanzine_estrellitamia /EstrellitamiaFanzine

.editorestrellitamia@gmail.com

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Contents

fanzine International Forum

Creator of a huge and varied body of artistic work, the French multimedia artist speaks with Tinystar.

20 DOSSIER HORROR VACUI

A compilation featuring some already published highlights from Estrellita Mía Fanzine

30 YVES HÄNGGI

Through paintings and drawings Switzerland’s artist Yves Hänggi had created a whole vibrant universe of crowded spaces and fantastic characters.

Tinystar spoke with him.

48 BIG BABOLI ŞARKÜTERI

Erman Akçay introduces to our readers Istanbul’s unique printing studio and art gallery and speaks with one the members of the gallery team Zezeah.

58 FERGUS NM

Josh M. Griffiths through his magazine the Aither interviews New Zealand artist Fergus Nm (a.k.a. FNM) about his formative years, artistic process and then some.

72 MAT

Witty irony and existential questioning are some of the elements of this Italian illustrator’s work. We display a free selection of some of his cartoon art.

80 ZAIDA GONZALEZ

We examine Chilean photographer Zaida Gonzalez series “Recuérdame al morir con mi último latido”.

90 MAVADO CHARON

French artist Mavado Charon speaks with Tinystar Magazine about his recently published books and his comic-book apocalyptic universe of sadistic punks….

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TINYSTAR COVER ART GALLERY: Yves Hänggi

This issue cover art is by Swiss artist Yves Hänggi. His latest work are on display at the Biennial of Visart Jura.

A whole article and interview at pages 30-47.

FROM THE EDITOR Horror Vacui Issue:

Ready for Excess

“La caída de Babilonia” - Jean Duvet

The term (Horror Vacui) has Latin roots and the concept appeared in Aristotle’s time.

We can trace such overinformation tendencies in painters such as Bosch, Brueghel, and Duvet.

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here is a story that tells while polishing his glasses, the Dutch philosopher Spinoza had a hunch: everything strives to persevere in its own being. The being clings to the being and rejects nothingness. Faced with the awareness that time is falling apart in our hands, we are constantly generating anxieties and projections of that part of our inner self that only wants to flee from that inexorable and fatal sentence that is death.

Creation seems to be a powerful way to perpetuate ourselves beyond the finite of existence.

Collect, accumulate, fill, store, we do not want to left any space remain empty, we do not want any corner of our experience to remain silent. But we ask ourselves, do we fill the space to challenge the fragility of our existence? Do we fill in the surfaces to expand our vital vibration? In the current state of things, it is possible that the search for meaning within is located between both positions and the artistic experience has something to contribute upon.

This brand new Tinystar issue displays to you a group of artists whose work is defined both visually and thematically from the saturation principle.

The artists that inhabit the pages of our publication, in their own respective styles and visions develop a powerful and detailed imagery that is usually full of iconographies and information that spawn fascination and curiosity from our readers, and sometimes, a certain feeling of uneasiness on the faint of heart. The confluence of graphic forms and imaginary inside 5

each piece displayed has no limits.

The area of interests and references of the artists displayed here is huge and, at moments demand wide knowledge and visual culture.

The theme that unifies this edition came from the awareness that there is a number of current artists developing their visual language and aesthetic identity displaying big amounts of information through an almost obsessive insistence on detail.

Emerged as an aesthetic concept during the Victorian era, critics and art historian pejoratively labeled “Horror Vacui” to the excessive addition of elements, designs or images on a plane both in architecture and painting. By naming it “Horror vacui” they were implying a

“Cristo en el limbo” - Hieronymous Bosh

notorious lack of synthesis skills from the part of the artists. “These artisans saw the world from a poorly cultivated perspective, and they see beauty in the indiscriminate insistence of its attributes.” Critics trained under the gui6

delines of Western aesthetic principles viewed Islamic decorations and the most glorious moments of Byzantine art with horror.

However, the term has Latin roots and the concept itself appeared in Aristotle’s time. We can trace such over-information tendencies in painters such as Bosch, Brueghel, and Duvet, whose works exhibit this need to cram the “design space” with elements: people, animals, buildings, trees, symbols, the works offered the gaze a world that was definitely unfolded from the surface of the painting simultaneously and without pause.

Rich and overloaded, the overpopulation of details distracted and bothered more purist and sober minds. “Less is more” always

echoes on the walls of the brains of critics and art scholars. The excess of detail, the over-information, the corruption of the subtle principle of sobriety and elegance that implicitly filters and validates from the current arts is only worthy of consideration

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on the condition that the academic authorities were able to recognize a will, from the part of the artist, to embrace from a critical perspective the grotesque side of the world.

“The artist will look with modesty all forms of antagonism to the ideals of purity”, seems to be the academic motto, since within the traditional conceptions around the creation of images, it is considered that the presence of enormous volumes of visual information contributes to the cancellation of the message and that due to this, the main attraction of an artwork fades and disappears into visual noise. The Italian art critic Mario Praz, used the term “Horror Vacui” to question “that fetish “The Fall of the Magician” - Pietr Brueguel of cramming the designs” that overwhelmed the spaces of everyday life.

But between the idealizations of the traditional aesthetics principles and the harsh reality we live in, the classical value judgments remain small.

In contemporary culture, the idea of “Horror Vacui” can be appreciated around the tireless succession of visual stimuli that the commercial world generates everyday: the multiple signals and advertisements that relentlessly invade urban spaces, the real experience mediated by electronic screens saturated with colors, shapes, codes and iconographies make up a scene without pause or rest for our brain. On the creative side, the tendency to agglomerate and superimpose ele-

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ments appears, in many cases, as a both aesthetic and philosophical stance within the visual arts.

For this new issue of Tinystar we want to delve into the perspective of the concept of “Horror Vacui”: The saturation of the space inside the artwork is appreciated as the expression of a lucid desire to expand an artwork visual attributes, as well as its thematic sense.

For this edition we have gathered works by the Swiss artist Yves Hanggi, whom we had the opportunity to interview exclusively for Tinystar.

From Australia, the artist Fergus NM (A.k.a.

FNM) talks with our friend and collaborator Josh Griffiths and displays his intricate graphic universe. From Chile we display for the first time some images from the “Remember me when I die with my last heartbeat” series created by photographer Zaida González. In this edition we also conducted interviews with French artists Nils Bertho and Mavado Charon who explained to us about their creative processes and introduce to us a powerful selection of their respective works.

We have found it interesting to stress the work of each of the artists present in this new edition of Tinystar, since we believe that this drive to fill the void can open doors to inspiring stimuli and brand new knowledge. Maybe we will change the paradigm and now proudly say “More is More!,” we welcome you to our “Horror Vacui Issue”.

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Horror Vacui MIYU VELA collage - 2020

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N I L S B E RT H O 10

Based in Montpellier, France, Nils Bertho is a young artist exploring the confines of artistic expression around drawing, painting, comics, illustration, collage and music.

Nils Bertho’s paintings and illustrations are packed with information: each piece created by the artist simoultaneously display different plots, references and characters.

Although both expressive and spontaneous, the work pays great attention to detail and the spaces of each work are meticulously worked. Thematically we see a universe populated by fabulous beings, with equal doses of tenderness and repellency, if we look more carefully these creatures are in the middle of some dialogue, an adventure. Different interactions seem to be happening simultaneously and intertwining. In the referential field of Nils, television characters and mythological figures occupy the same space of alchemical energy, after all the electronic monsters of today come to fulfill the same expectations and emotional effects that the gargoyles, the dragons or the mermaids played at their respective genesis and time. In addition to addressing a wide iconographic universe, Nils Bertho expands his vision to different supports and media. For example the “Passion Cheval” series, where the artist plays with the Dada principle of embarrasment: posters and printed images of horses are covered with paint, word games and clichéd thoughts reinforcing its own absurdity. Music also occupies a significant place in the world of Nils Bertho. Adolf Hibou, formed along other individuals is noise emsemble described by the artist himself as “a noise punk powerful tender and brutal boys-band”.

In the following conversation the artist tells us about his beginnings, interests and A.H.

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TINYSTAR: How did you get involperformances, How do you describe ved into the arts? Could you desyour artistic process? cribe a little the context where you I work essentially on feeling in created your first pieces? everything I do and I chose to go NILS BERTHO: I’ve been drawing in all directions, all at the service since I was a kid, from what I of a creative energy and drawing remember I always kept in mind is the backbone in all that. that I wanted to do this. There are a lot of things to discover in TINYSTAR: How do you define “unthis world and sometimes it’s derground art” in these days? strange to think that I follow my NILS BERTHO: I think it will way just drawing all night long always be defined by the conin a cave, but cept of DIY. to be a cave “Fanzinart, silkscreen draftman it’s TINYSTAR: printing, illustration or basically the How important thing that to you is the punk rock are not the makes me collaborative easiest ways to earn mo- creation prothe happiest.

My father was ney, but living from what cess? a scenograNILS BERyou love remains a luxury pher and my THO: Fanzine brother was for me and one of the po- art, silkscreen interested in printing, illussitive points of this life” comics, gratration or punk ffitti and 3D, it rock are not probably played a role. My pasthe easiest ways to earn money, sage through the School of Fine but living from what you love Arts confirmed this feeling that remains a luxury for me and one I wanted to live from my pasof the positive points of this life sion. That’s where I created my is the meetings with other artists first pieces which were spotted who have chosen the same way and exhibited by galleries and I since we often speak the same exhibited in France and abroad. language and collaborations are When I got my diploma and I a way to meet and share our opened a gallery-concert space: passion.

“Le Mat”, that’s where I started in this way.

TINYSTAR: Is there any particular artist that deserves your attention TINYSTAR: At your website there these days? are so many art pieces displayed.

NILS BERTHO: Yes a lot. I partiYou put a lot of attention to detail cularly admire the compulsive arand there are many references to tists whose profusion of practice pop culture and current affairs can is steadily like the French artist be seen besides I have seen videos, Stephane Blanquet or the Japa12

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nese Shintaro Kago and I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work of Daniel Johnston who died this year.

tic collaboration and a meeting around the esoteric theme.

The codex compiles 66 artists: 66 collaborations: 66 pages. The book will take “I particularly admire the form of a large ancient grithe compulsive armoire, beautiful tists whose profusion paper, a leather of practice is steadily cover...

It will be relealike the French artist sed in January edited by Stephane Blanquet or 2021 Sarah Fisthole the Japanese Shinta- and Le Mat.

TINYSTAR: Tell us about the witchcraft tutorials codex NILS BERTHO: “Les Tutos Sorcellerie, Le Codex” (witchcraft tutorials, the codex) is a project started last ro Kago”. year. The starting idea is to create drawings “with 2 hands” in collaboration with cartoonists and artists that I like, some known, some not, some are also friends.

The goal is to develop an artis-

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Visit: nilsbertho.com/ shop.nilsbertho.com/ facebook.com/nilsbertho instagram.com/nilsbertho

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ADOLF HIBOU: Nils’ boy-band TINYSTAR: What about Adolf Hibou, how long you been playing? Who are the band members?

NILS BERTHO: I scream in Rock bands since I’m 20.

With the guitar player Bruno Ducret, we’ve been playing together for ten years now, in various bands, but Adolf Hibou as it is with the drummer Maël Gagnieux exists since 2014.

TINYSTAR: Describe Adolf Hibou musical approach?

How many recordings do you have?

NILS BERTHO: Adolf Hibou is a noise punk powerful tender and brutal boys-band

ADOLF HIBOU albums’ covers

We’ve put out our first joke album in 2015, entitled “Deep inside your eyes”, with Linge records.

Some of it can still be found on Youtube, and the label’s page, but all that’s left of it are mainly jokes.

After that we made à 3 track LP with Ascèce Records in 2018 called “Satan II”, that is still available on tapes and vinyls.

The first real Adolf Hibou’s record “Princess Barely Legal” will be out next fall, thanks to Head Records.

It will be about 12 tracks long, with a few jokes left in it. Videoclips are on the way too!

TINYSTAR: Is there any concept of the band linked to your artistic approach? If any would explain it?

NILS BERTHO: In the end, this band is a merger between our 3 different universes. We mostly want to play loud walls of sound, and have a whole lotta fun.We all met in fine arts school, this band’s identity is thought through as an artistical concept that unites all of our savoir-faire and medium: Bruno has a lot of bands, maybe 15.. from jazz to grindcore.

Maël is a contemporary performer, a video editor and a musician in traditional music ( Medieval and Cajun) and me, I have absolutely no musical education, but who cares.

For the band it kind of works, Bruno takes care of sound, band practice and logistics, Maël takes care of vidéo clips and trailers, and I’m in charge of booking and visual identity. And with all of this organisation, we still manage to fuck up everything we do.

Estrellita MĂŹa Highlights

HORROR VACUI DOSSIER

For this edition, we searched through our archives and selected some artworks, which in their respective styles explore over-information and /or excess. The confluence of forms and imaginary has no limits. The area of interests and references of the artists is broad, ranging from urban anguish and pop idolatry to dream experiences and the body as tangible proof of reality. Each one of these works constitutes small universes, which from a cultural and social point of view are not so far away from our everyday reality.

Through drawing or collage, the following authors were published at the pages of Estrellita MĂ­a Fanzine.

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CAMILO SOLIS

Collage featured at Estrellita Mía issue # 13 on 2017

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SENORITAUGARTE

Collage displayed at the Woman Artists volume issue # 9. 2017

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OSCURA ESCENCIA

Collage from the Woman Artists volume issue # 9. 2017

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LIMON CAMILO Drawing taken from the Walpurgis special issue # 10, 2017

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ALVARO CORDOVA Digital Construction from the Collage issue # 17, 2017

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FELIPE CASTILLO

“Osito” ink drawing was featured at the Estrellita Mía number # 4, 2016

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“Pop” ink drawing was featured at the Estrellita Mía number # 6, 2016

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MIYU VELA

Digital construction was the cover of issue # 16, “Living in fear” on 2017

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TIMWNAS

Drawing appeared on the second print of Estrellita MĂ­a issue # 12, 2017

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YVES HĂ„NGGI

Switzerland‘s Cosmic Traveler Interview by TinyStar

A group of figures, whose faces are sporting different expressions, look at me. Some of them seem to be closer than the others, some of them seem to melt among the others. I try to count them, but every time I finish I realize that the number has changed. Those faces occupy the entire space of the painting. In my habit of ordering the universe according to the compositional conventions I was taught, I feel a lack of space, the figures looks very tight, are those really a crowd or am I looking at just one character vibrating, becoming a multiplicity?

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In another scene I see two figures embracing each other holding a can in hand, then a toast. Unlike the previous image, I immediately move to another area and recall my own experience in bars. At a certain time and with a drinking accomplice, I know exactly the background, attitudes and situations the characters are living through: I can even feel my eyes widened and my voice out of register and loud becuase the amount of alcohol consumed and,

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as in Yves’s painting, surrounded by endless amounts of bottles and noise. When I return to the present reality, I notice that in Yves Hänggi’s artwork I am in front of a fragment of a vast of reality. The artist traces, articulates and gives us the expression of a moment, is us spectators the ones that take this fragments and project it inside/outside of our experience as living beings, be it eithere in a spiritual or intellectual way.

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Yves Hänggi is an artist born in Porrentruy, Switzerland. Illustrator, painter, graphic designer, organizer of cultural events, Yves Hänggi studied at the Cantonal School of Visual Arts in Biel and is a member of the Swiss association of visual artists Visarte. A large number of styles converge in Yves’ artistic imaginary: Independent comics, free figuration, pop art, folk art or art brut, are perceptible languages throughout his work that includes drawing, painting, printing and collage. In 2019 Yves Hänggi won the Porrentruy City Culture Award.

The principle of juxtaposition typical of collage practice is a significant element in Yves Hänggi’s work. Different works by the artist (such as his “Luchadores” series) consist of superimpositions of figures and the inclusion of cuts and texts, highlighting in his work a deep physical intensity and technical dynamism. The frontality of the compositions and the solid contour of the images, in many moments bring it closer to the language of the poster.

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is another important feature within the artist’s work. Pictorially Yves Hänggi connects closely with many traceable elements in street art. Figures, texts and chromatic surfaces are constituted in expressive forms that - in conjunction or separately - flow from a universe characterized by a defined symbolic lexicon. These intensities are manifested through accurate compositions where the figures develop precise actions, which gives each work a great personality.

In his latest series, the artist reaches a mysterious and disturbing territory: Without abandoning its most distinctive features, human figuration gives way to areas attributable to the body but not entirely defined by a trivial anatomy. Eyes, hands, industrial silos, instruments of cutting and slicing are now the protagonists of highly saturated compositions.

We talked to Yves Häggi about his artwork and the importance of his travelling experiences in creative processes.

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As I read at your biography you were born in Swiss and graduated at the Cantonal school of Visual Arts.

Could you tell me about how your interest in art started?

Effectively, I trained as a graphic designer at the Cantonal School of Visual Arts in Biel, Switzerland.

I come from a family very open to art and, very young already, I was interested in culture in general, and in the visual arts in particular. As a teenager, I already drew a lot, made comics and fanzines. I have always been passionate about visual arts, but also about music (pop, rock, electro, alternative), design and, in general, everything related to

underground creation and urban culture. In terms of influence, my artistic universe is nourished by various genres: pop art, independent comics, free figuration, art brut, popular arts...

I can appreciate painters like Basquiat, Haring, Scharf or Combas, as well as illustrators from the underground like Le Dernier Cri, Blanquet or Wagenbreth, to name a few. I also love to travel and immerse myself in all the different cultures I can meet around the world. Finally, my style is quite diversified, the main axes of my work being on the one hand the drawing of travels and, on the other hand, the painting and illustration of alternative, imaginary type, even a little trashy by certain aspects.

Your painting and graphic artwork display a very impressive precision and very defined style, for example, have you considered (or already) created tri-dimensional artwork?

I mainly realize two-dimensional creations (painting, drawing, collage), but I sometimes try, in the context of certain exhibitions, to go beyond the classic presentation of canvases to try to create more global universes, in which the spectator enters in order to be immersed into my graphic universe. But for the moment, I haven’t taken the step to create truly volume works.

I have the impression that you take lots of notes before creating

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the final art-work. Then I realized that many of the images of your series – from 2015/2016 – were created while traveling… Do you keep notebooks or just take notes in scraps you find?

For my travel drawings, I don’t take any preparatory notes.

The drawing, even if it is precise, remains very spontaneous.

I’m not trying to faithfully transcribe what I see. On the contrary, I try to create personal atmospheres, inspired in a roundabout way by the environment, the place and the encounters, based on my visual memory and my feelings.

The traveling series you created have a very human approach, were are able to see people, characters, places, architecture very clearly, they even irradiate peace and curiosity… how was for your-

I try to explore certain underground facets of the human being and to bring out and exaggerate its multiple identities...

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self as an individual/artist this experience of knowing so many different cultures?

I love to draw when traveling.

It’s a way for me to complete the adventure of travel and to immerse myself, from another angle, in the cultures and people I meet. It’s also a way for me to get out of my studio and creative moments alone, to find myself drawing in the heart of the action, in the cities, the streets, the crowd… And of course the encounter with all kinds of cultures and different environments nourishes all of my creation, even when I return to my studio...

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I see a change in the intensity of the subject-matters from the travel pieces - where we see clear characters and a recognizable time/space harmony, then, we go through the wrestling series where the principle of collage is helping to make the compositions more intricate. At the latest pieces we are able to perceive a more introspective approach and at the same time a more complex relation between the characters, theirs gestures and the general composition. A more dark and symbolic quality has emerged.

Is there any process in your work that you decided to change between 2018 and 2020?

This is the other aspect of my work: It is clear that the approach is not at all the same between the travel drawing in notebooks and my large format paintings that I do in my studio, taking much more time. The context, the desires, the influences are different. This process is part of the balance of my work, and I like to diversify and move from one to the other. Therefore, the subjects are indeed not the same; I really evolve there in an

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alternative universe, urban, more trashy, offbeat, phantasmagorical, dreamlike, obsessive, outrageous, overloaded I try to create my own universe... I experiment with all kinds of approaches, depending on the mood of the moment, trying to be as spontaneous as possible. Usually, when I start a work, I don’t really know how it will evolve and what it will look like in the end.

Tell us about the wrestlers series, you are using superposition, collage‌ what were the aspects you were interested in displaying through those?

These series of drawings mix different techniques, such as ink, paint, chalk and collage. The subjects are notably inspired by trips made to Mexico, and in particular by the universe of lucha libre, its iconography, its codes and its heroes, which I reinterpret in my own way. It is typically the kind of singular environment that influences me and from which I try to transcribe, in a personal and offbeat way, the originality, the rites, the madness or the excess. In this kind of drawing, I play with the accumu37

I am particularly interested in the universe of independent alternative contemporary drawing, but my curiosity pushes me to be interested in all kinds of art and particularly in versatile artists.

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lation of elements and characters, the superposition, the multiplication.

I try to explore certain underground facets of the human being and to bring out and exaggerate its multiple identities, in a way echoing the entanglement and labyrinthine meanderings of our current society, where sometimes social and cultural confusion makes us lose our heads.

What about your up-coming projects?

Are you preparing something?

I always have a lot of projects in progress, exhibitions and publications in particular, but mainly in Switzerland.

I would like to be able to promote my work abroad, in Europe but also beyond, and find exhibition places

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interested in showing my works, as well as through editorial collaboration projects.

At the same time as you work as an artist, I realized you work organizing art-shows for/with other artists could you describe this process? Is it a part of your regular job? Does it relate to your artistic visions?

Parallel to my work as an artist, I have indeed organized during about thirty years all kinds of cultural events, in very varied fields, mainly in Switzerland, France and Belgium. Numerous rock concerts, music, theater and film festivals, as well as contemporary art exhibitions. I also

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managed a famous rock club in Switzerland, the Bikini Test. In contemporary creation, I was in charge of setting up an exchange program of exhibitions and residencies between Switzerland and Belgium. Being very open to all kinds of current artistic trends, it could be exhibitions of paintings, illustrations, sculptures or installations. In this field, of course I am particularly interested in the universe of independent alternative contemporary drawing, but my curiosity pushes me to be interested in all kinds of art and particularly in versatile artists.

What about the techniques you are working with in your latest series?

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Currently I try above all to develop my work in the studio, which allows me to experiment, whether the techniques (painting, ink, chalk, collage ), media (paper, cardboard, canvas, recycled elements, tarpaulins...) or formats (from very small to very large).

I am working in particular on a

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series of very large paintings on tarpaulins, which take up all the space in my studio. I am looking forward to showing them, and why not in Chile?...

MORE INFORMATION AND WORKS ON www.yveshanggi.ch

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GALLERY SPOTLIGHT

The Heart Of Rock & Roll Beats In This Gallery:

Big Baboli Şarküteri

from Istambul

by Erman Akçay

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ot long ago, around three or four years, I met Zeynep Kış and his wife Şakir, at their workshop in Kızıltoprak. They showed me the examples of the prints they made, mostly silk-screen posters produced for music groups with a collection value. Then came the Krüw events and exhibitions where the original works of young talents were displayed and were quick to bring a strong dynamism to our contemporary graphic / illustration world. These handcrafted paintings brought us together with the most colorful and exciting examples of Illustration Art. Those works of many different styles and artists were literally fascinating. part from the drawings produced in a commercial context, this young generation of artists, who adopt “illustration” or “illustrative works” as a serious discipline and style, display quite different and original works from those of the previous generations, which were published in old humor magazines or on our classical comic-novels. There is a better understanding with the works they produce. On these younger artists it is possible to approach all the traces of the computer and cybernetic age: alienation, rootless cosmopolitanism, madness and perversion, which gained momentum after the beginning of the new millennium. There is a huge cultural pool of psychedelic rock posters, underground comics, graffiti and manga culture, computer-generated graphics and all kinds of cyberpunk interactions. pening its doors last winter, Bigbaboli Şarküteri* also hosts different events such as movie screenings and artist talks. We interviewed Zezeah, the favorite name of the team, during the epidemic days, for those who give value to art in an age where the human is defined with its shadow.

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ERMAN: Hello, Zezeah, since we are in the “epidemic days”, we are spending days under quarantine, it looks like Napalm Death record covers; to what extent did this affect the art market, how did this situation affects you as a gallery owner?

ZEZEAH: Hi Erman, thank you very much on my behalf for asking our state first. It is understandable that art lovers and collectors restrict luxury expenses apart from their individual needs in this pessimistic period. The same is true for us; We say “Health first!”. Apart from that, online exhibitions, conversations etc. we are not enthusiastic about these areas as we do not like virtual events.

ERMAN: Last winter, Bigbaboli Şarküteri

met with art lovers; You hosted many different events from group exhibitions to movie screenings, displaying big names such as Hakan Günday, Emre Orhun, Miron Zownir. How did the transition from artist to gallery owner show affect you?

ZEZEAH: Yes, we had the opportunity to exhibit and share the works of the artists whose work we have been following with enthusiasm for years. This was a calendar of events, mostly made up of our friends and close circle. As you may say, I am not a gallery owner, I cannot claim that I am very experienced in art direction, marketing and exhibitions, but for about ten years we have been running our own Big Baboli Print House art print workshop with the pseudonyms Moklich Artworks by Elif Varol Ergen

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and Zezeah, and we produce and sell our own works.

In the spring of 2019, we joined forces with our friend Berk Kula to make a common dream come true and we took steps together to open the Şarküteri. We wanted to create a different concept by combining Berk’s contributions and our experiences and possibilities. As an artist, we nourished the Şarküteri with our creative environment. We have a curious audience that trusts our sincerity and supports the new generation of artists as much as they can; and thanks to them we have created a truly independent structure that does not need the support of any brand or company.

The Şarküteri prioritizes the artists TinyStar

in terms of commission, the second priority is the ability of the gallery to stand on its own feet and to keep the platforms such as advertising, photography and online sales, which are necessary for the artists to present their works better. We are a small crew that does all this with self-sacrifice. Despite all this, this building has been greeted with enthusiasm by people and we hope we can already be an exemplary venue.

ERMAN: You started organizing open studio days with artists.

ZEZEAH: Together with the days of Open Studio, we created a presentation for collectors to better observe and understand the stages through which a poster they purchased from 51

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General views of Elif Varol Ergen artworks

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Şarküteri is printed and why the piece they have is so valuable. Our first studio experience was realized with curious participants who wanted to meet the artist and who already had little knowledge about screen printing. We hope we can reach a more enthusiastic and excited audience that has no idea about the subject in the upcoming studio days.

ERMAN: You create groundbreaking works in the field of graphics and illustration both as an atelier and as a gallery, we also see many quality publications on the shelves, you also combine artists’ drawings with cool clothing styles.

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ZEZEAH: The idea in our mind for a limited number of products was that people could reach their favorite artists at every price scale, so we produced a limited number of by-products such as stickers, t-shirts and pins for the artists we worked with. Şarküteri undertook the entire cost, so we diversified the product scales of the artists and filled our catalog with many different options such as original work, limited edition, painting, fanzine, sticker, pin, tshirt.

Limit-editon compromises have been given to artists and collectors for all these products; This is also a guarantee that unlimited profits

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artworks by Moklich

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will not be made through their arts, so every product purchased from our gallery carries a collection value. We are pleased that the preference is mostly for silkscreen prints and stickers, because the popularity of original pieces is always a great motivation for artists.

ERMAN: Thank you very much for the interview Zeynep, If you have something to add, please.

ZEZEAH: Many greetings to all our friends who have been with us until today with their support, contribution and cooperation; Hope to see you at new events as soon as possible, goodbye for now.

Zeynep a.k.a. Zezeah, April 2020 for more info and details, wwww.bigbabolisarkuteri.com

Erman Akçay lives and works in Istambul, Turkey. He is the editor and director of Löpcück, an e-zine dedicated to display and promote the current underground graphics arts scene. Currently Erman is curating the “Retina Decadence, underground comics and graphic arts” exhibition that displays 30 artists from different countries at Big Baboli Gallery.

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Art Talk: The Aither Magazine Interview

Fergus Nm

by Josh M. Griffiths Fergus Nm, aka FNM is a New Zealand / Kiwi artist creating colorful, surreal, chaotic and psychedelic art in a style he has labelled “Messyism”.

Also an accomplished musician, Fergus currently makes solo avant garde noise music under his ‘NNNC’ moniker and also sang in noted metal band ‘Bulletbelt’ til 2013 and experimental group ‘FANZ’ until their demise.

Inspired by 16/32 bit computer games, the art and hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt, ancient myths and the music that he devoured as a child, Fergus posits his discovery of the work of the Surrealists when he was 15 as his defining artistic moment, stating: “Around age 15 I discovered the visual and literary work of the Surrealists and the related surrealist/ fantastical tradition… (it) blows my puny mind.

Max Ernst appears as a bright star high above, guiding me to a world I never knew, a world that looks like home.

Seeing the possibilities of collage, automatic drawing, chance operations, things like that, helped instill to me the value of experimentation and the relativism of things like ‘skill’ and ‘correct technique.’“ With Fergus gaining a growing following for his art, and about to release an album by his ‘NNNC’ project through the Buzzy Point record label, we thought now was the perfect time to ask Fergus some questions about art, life, music, growing up in New Zealand and a whole lot more!

Josh M. Griffiths is an Australian author, toy designer, treasure collector and “The Aither” editor and director. At the Tinystar Magazine issue number zero we published his conversation with artist Toby Zoates.

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Name + D.O.B? Fergus Nm. Born on the 9th of May during an early year of the 1990s.

City, State and Country you currently call home/where you are from?

Living in Newtown, New Zealand, while born and raised on the Kāpiti Coast of Aotearoa.

Please describe some memories from key stages of your life: music, art, toys, romance, comic books, hunting, school, politics, crime, religion… ANYTHING really! * Age 5 – beginnings: A temperamental child who is fascinated by snails, Transformers, and making explosion noises on the trampoline.

At one point I cut my finger by accident, and having learnt the first letter of my name I write a great F in blood on the side of my house. * Age 10 – continuations: By now infatuated with the likes of Final Fantasy, Roald Dahl, Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and mythology.

First experiences with death in the family as a beloved aunt passes from cancer.

The Sony Playstation is the gateway to the Universe, and the bendy logic of childhood stretches and contracts as it pleases. * Age 15 – getting serious: In my early teens I begin making music. I start to play guitar, I join a band and start screaming, and making noise. I discover the joys of fucking around with effects pedals and amplifiers.

A chance meeting with the surrealist tradition blows my puny mind.

Max Ernst appears as a bri

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Fergus as a kid

ght star high above, guiding me to a world I never knew, a world that looks like home.

Collage, drawing, and finding wonder and weirdness becomes necessary to truly LIVE. * Age 20 – young adult: Although I continue to dig through books and trawl through internet forums in search of newer and more wondrous visions and music, I’m never quite happy with the results of my own art. I try new combinations, mediums, elements, all the rest. I play in different bands and different styles. A period of flux. * Age 25 – adult mode: I ebb and flow between artistic/musical activity and stifling inactivity.

I drift around the Wellington area, a different flat every year or so.

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Occasionally I make plans to exhibit or publish, but these plans drift away like smoke – perhaps for the best! It takes time to be truly sure of yourself and your directions – even now I am not at that total point, but I get closer every day. * Age 30 – fully formed: Not quite at this point yet in numbers but I am in attitude (I hope!)

I feel comfortable in my artistic style and practice, and am dedicated to sharing my works.

My mental health, which has been temperamental at times, is now the most arranged and controllable it has ever been.

I live with my wonderful supportive partner and am overall pretty bloody lucky and privileged!

Personal motto(s)?

Not so much a motto as an epigram: “You know about innards? The trick they play on tramps in the country?

They stuff an old wallet with putrid chicken innards.

Well, take it from me, a man is just like that, except that he’s fatter and hungrier and can move around, and inside there’s a dream.”

– Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Journey to the End of the Night Art Questions ____________________________________ ____________________________________ When and why did you first start to make art? … and any pivotal artistic moment(s) / influence(s)?

I’ve always been drawing. From a young age I feel I’ve had a good grasp on what I find aesthetically appealing (I am somewhat aware of how pompous that sounds). Early obsessions would be the Final Fan62

tasy games (IV – VIII in particular for those of you playing at home) and other 16/32 bit video games.

Over the past few months in particular I have more of a conscious understanding of the simplicity and beauty of those classic games, and how they have subconsciously influenced my style.

Another early influence that I only recently realised the magnitude of is the tomb art of Ancient Egypt – the two dimensional perspective, with everything pressed up to the forefront of the image, really influences my composition and style.

I incorporate my own personal hieroglyphs into my pictures – there’s a fork like shape that over the past few years has something between a signature, a sigil, and a hieroglyph.

Around age 15 I discovered the visual and literary work of the Surrealists and the related surrealist/ fantastical tradition. I had already engaged with the works of William S Burroughs and JG Ballard, and I think I must’ve found surrealism proper through them.

Seeing the possibilities of collage, automatic drawing, chance operations, things like that, helped instil to me the value of experimentation and the relativism of things like “skill” and “correct technique.”

In terms of how I draw, long time visual influences from that era would be artists like Max Ernst, Unica Zürn, Leonora Carrington, and looking down from some strange heaven upon us all is the esteemed Hieronymus Bosch.

Whilst we know you through your art – care to share with those at home the details of your other creative endeavors… if any?!

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of different sorts.

I’ve played guitar in noise rock groups, was the frontman of a black metal band for a couple years, and have done many different electronic/noise/experimental collaborations over the past decade.

I have been making what you could loosely call noise music since I was a teenager.

These days I sporadically play out under the moniker of NNNC (an abbreviation that changes constantly – originally it stood for No Nonsense Noise Cannon, but I change it for every show/ mood), where I try to find some balance between nostalgic blurred loops and flaming ropes of coloured static. The static usually wins.

some level of good, so I don’t feel as bad as I have at other jobs in the past.

Please describe the usual process involved with producing your art?

I’m quite haphazard – I have a bunch of pages on the go at any given point that I’ll draw on these through over the space of a few hours.

At some point separate sections of these pages are cut up and collaged onto other pages, along with scraps, doodles, random ink marks, et cetera.

I used to make more collages from found matter but this has slowed down since I have been focusing more on drawing – the occasional bit still sneaks in!

There’s no proper routine when it comes to colouring, linework, composition – I work intuitively (I like to draw parallels with the Psychic Automatism practised by the classic surrealists).

There’s a reason I half-jokingly refer to my art style as Messyism.

What do you do for a day job at the moment and how does your day job impact or influence your artistic practice?

I work in the public service, part time.

Artistically I feel I work my best late at night and the hours of my dayjob allow me to do this most nights of Worst aspect(s) of the art hustle? Best the week.

Work is a necessary evil but at this aspect(s) of the art hustle? particular job I feel my work does I don’t really see myself as part of any hustle per se but I do find it thri63 TinyStar

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lling when someone lets me know they enjoy something I have made – if they are willing to pay for that, all the better!

Although I have been drawing and whatnot for years now I’ve only recently taken the steps to share this work more freely with others.

Favourite other artist(s)?

I get totally obsessive with certain artists and styles constantly – there are too many to name! I listed above my major influences from my youth above who all remain big faves.

I love art that comes with a certain roughness, be it in subject matter, technique, skill, or all of the above.

The likes of Daisuke Ichiba, Susan Te Kahurangi King, and Mark Beyer definitely influence my personal style.

I also love the lurid and uncomfortable worlds that Suehiro Maruo, Gea Philes, Toshio Saeki (RIP) and Keizo Miyanishi allow us glimpses into. On a more contemporary front, I’m currently swooning over the work of Nichole Shinn, Juli Majer, Heather Benjamin, and Brian Blomerth.

Any projects you want to hype?

On my own front – I’m looking to release two zines this year (all things going well!) – one of which will feature works by some of esteemed friends and fellow travellers.

I’d also like to bring attention to TinyStar

Buzzy Point (BZP), the record label/ mysterious organisation headed by my good friend/long time musical ally Thomas.

BZP will be putting out my first musical release in a long time as NNNC sometime in the not too distant future – access the archives here: https://buzzypoint.bandcamp.com/ If people wanted to work with you, have a chat or buy something – how should they get in touch?

Like many other millennials of the early 21st century it is easiest to contact me through Instagram – @ fnmdraws.

Odds and Ends ____________________________________ ____________________________________ If you could live in any place, during any historical era – where and when would that be?…and why would you choose that time and place?

I have a fascination with Europe du65

ring the interwar period – in some ways I feel we are living in a similar era – the chaos and change helped to foster some amazing works.

It’s easy to idealise different times in history, I mean realistically I’d probably be a simple colonial yokel or something were I alive then!

I’d like to say my next choice would be to live in ancient Mesopotamia or something, but truthfully I would also be partial to live a life of bourgeois luxury in the Decadent era as some Libertine Lord or Anarchist Count, dosed on opium and hermetic philosophy.

What are the top 3 items you own?

My three favourite items in my possession are, in no particular order: My copy Suehiro Maruo’s Maruograph Grandioso, signed by the artist.

Discovering Suehiro Maruo a couple years ago ignited my passion for art in a way that few other visual artists have. I hold this copy of his

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works close to my heart – it is a pleasure to be able to have his countless strange tableaux and feverish dreams at my fingertips.

My Yamaha SU200 sampler.

This thing is key to what I do musically. It is a very primitive and idiosyncratic sampler with all kinds of strange features and quirks. As different loops are layered on it it glitches and stutters in a way that nothing else really does.

It was my first sampler, purchased during a moment of personal grief and trouble, and even after acquiring more technically advanced gear it’s the bit of kit I find myself reaching for most often when I make music.

Last but certainly not least is this absolutely stunning ceramic raccoon-faced mug that my partner’s mother made me.

Raccoons are some of my favourite creatures – their trickster nature and antics are enchanting. I almost wept when I saw one in the flesh while on holiday just recently.

I felt something similar

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What do you think the New Zealand / Kiwi zeitgeist is today?

I feel an outsider in many ways – most art in the Wellington area is conceptual/ installation based which doesn’t really connect with me.

I’m lucky to know a few other artists cut from a similar cloth locally, and I try to spread my work to like-minds in my circle when I can.

Outside of my minuscule art circles, well, I am at a loath to really say anything else, short of saying that I fear New Zealand is definitely not this progressive powerhouse we may appear to be to outsiders. when first seeing this gift!

Who was your 1st crush and why?

I remember feeling pretty crushed by the girl in the incredibly tacky video for the incredibly tacky song “Butterfly” by Crazy Town, bahahahaha! No one of a certain age was safe from the nu metal years.

What role did toys play in your childhood(s)?

I was always into toys, especially plush/soft toys. I would treat them, as many children do, as talismans, good luck charms, comforting friends. At one point I managed to acquire an armadillo soft toy which Does sex change everything?

I’d love to try and dig out one day. Well, losing my virginity made me feel a lot less self-conscious, so Drugs – waste of time or gateway to maybe it does. the universe?

Neither one nor the other (for me In a battle between the two iconic Kiat least). A tool for some, a crutch wis: Scribe (rapper) Vs. The Dog (from the Footrot Flats comic) – who would for others. win in a fight and why?

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this is probably a lot closer to fruition that I thought it would be.

I’m not one to judge, but would a sex toy based on Bronx, the dog-like Gargoyle, be entering a realm of bestiality? Pseudo-bestiality? Is a Gargoyle a beast anyway?

Food for thought.

Scribe would, he’s had a pretty rough run over the years, although I would like to think that with him and Dog cooler heads would prevail.

In celebration of that thought, here is a little haiku to contemplate the scene: How many dudes you know? not many if any.

The Dog is one, though.

Which cartoon character, would you most like to see in a tribute sex toy, and why?

One of the Gargoyles maybe?

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Please describe your last dream in detail…

I’m so terrible at remembering my dreams. I couldn’t even tell you the last dream I can remember, sadly.

I used to have the most psychedelic dreams as a teenager but that well is dry at the moment.

I can tell you my earliest remembered nightmare though…

I was in some old ruins at night, with the moon shining above. There were pools full of water with skeletal remains at the bottom. I am eventually chased through this midnight labyrinth by a skeleton with a haircut, not unlike the skeletons seen on the cover of some classic Goosebumps book covers (ha!).

As the skeleton corners me, I squeal “mummy!” and wake up.

Upon reflection years later it appears that this dream was a rebus – crying out mummy as an actual mummy gets me.

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Of everything you have done what would you most like to be remembered for and why?

It would be quite lovely to know that my work has inspired someone, or given them the same feeling that I get from looking at what I consider great art. Being remembered for being pretty nice would be okay, too.

Link FNM – Instagram ‘NNNC’ – Photos and Video of a 2019 Live Performance ‘Bulletbelt’ – Bandcamp ‘FANZ’ – Live Album via the End of the Alphabet record label Bandcamp Buzzy Point Record Label – Facebook Buzzy Point Record Label – Bandcamp

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Too punk for the pop crowd/too pop for the punk dogma

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Mat is a 24 years old underground cartoonist from northern Italy.

His comics and illustrations has been published on several zines and magazines around the world like Snuff Comix, Mota Comix, Tricomics, Carousel among other publications. In addition to that, Mat published a comic book with a small Italian publishing house and did some diy publications independently as well.

Elaborating about his work Mat commented to Tinystar: “In these rapidly and poorly drawn comics, influenced by gekiga and heta-uma manga, I speak about the fear of living, that forces the anthropomorphic subjects who animate these stories, to lead a regular yet empty, distressed and repetitive lives, all accompanied by a bitter sense of dissatisfaction. An inability to live life, as much pathetic as naive, told with an almost humorous, tragicomic tone.”

Currently he is finishing his master at the Brera’s Fine Arts Academy in Milan in art history, criticism and curatorial practices, “From a practical point of view I’m an untrained and (badly) self taught artist as I always studied art only from an academic perspective,” Mat concludes.

You can find some of his publications on-line at https://issuu.com/fumettinonpubblicati

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o n g z a a le d i z a z Zaida González is a Chilean photographer whose work consists in the representation of the human figure displayed at different settings and contexts. Her work is built inside and projected from the studio. Zaida’s artworks are thematic series that take shape after a long and complex process of conceptualization, designing and “sketching”. The artist carefully selects each of the models/actors who will be starring each project.

The setting work, makeup, light measurement, test shots are essential in order to achieve each final image.

Zaida’s process is completely analogous, from the shooting to the film development and paper enlargement. The artist herself applied color to each paper copies, since she only work with black and white film.

With obsession and absolute dedication, the artist transforms the studio into a unique universe where magic and fantasy are symbolically combined with her accurate and tremendously precise photographer gaze. Zaida González’s work addresses the body from its subversion. The dreamy and ethereal atmospheres created within his images portray those organisms that have been rejected from the social and cultural norm, either by class, gender or anatomy.

Zaida González’s themes are complex and serious. Her taste for color, detail and the brilliance of ornamentation links her to the arcane world of the Latin American Baroque imaginary and the classical mythology. The viewer of Zaida’s photographs will almost always notice there might be brightness, artificial light but most significantly,in Zaida Gonzalez’s photography there will always be shining the light of the soul. Spectators will also be able to laugh with the small winks of humor that are generated from each piece as a result of the references to the carnal world in which we all live but also observe and perhaps to relate to each character particular features that Zaida González silently build and unfolds in each of her series.

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The characters that inhabit and are the center of each of the photographer’s images live the anguish and tragedy involved in the awareness of living between two worlds: one exceptional and supernatural and the other cruel and mortally human.

If originally studio photography employed the preciousness of what was culturally accepted as a resource and it highlighted the solemn and conventional aura of the portrayed, in her series the photographer seeks to display a new dimension of preciousness, opening the door to a carnal world whose mystique emerges from the honesty of human expression and excess. In this edition of Tinystar we introduce to you some images from her book “Remember me when I died with my last heartbeat”.

“Remember me ...” is a photographic series based on the “Velorio de Angelito” (“Wake of angel”), a funerary ceremony held when a child died before reaching the age of three. It was called “Velorio de angelito”, because the creature died without sinning. It is said that the tradition has been brought in the 15th century from Spain and expanded among the locals from Mexico to the Pampas. In Chile this syncretism was mainly developed by family groups living in the rural areas until the beginnings of the 20th century. The corpse of the deceased child is dressed in a white robe and sit on an altar mounted on a table, called the “table of saints”, eventually some families chose to complete the outfit with wings, which “will help it in its heavenly journey”.

Different religious images are arranged around the corpse, as well as white flowers, the assistants raise prayers and incense is burned. In this celebration a dinner is served and the assistants drink an alcoholic preparation called “gloriado”. There is dance, songs and prayers, the celebration can, at times, span several nights and days.

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Photographic documents from the early twentieth century in Chile provided as well as oral testimonies offered a wide referential field for the creation of “Remember me when I died with my last heartbeat.” Within her previous endeavors the disruptive codes and as a broadening of aesthetic perspective, the artist searched for those children who died prematurely and who instead of a farewell celebration or a funeral have been handed over to the realm of science. Zaida González got the corpses of infants under the age of three on loan from the Medical Legal Institute of Santiago to represent the little angels. By carefully observing the images, the viewer will realize that they are clearly children with physical deformity, or genetic pathologies, for which their fate had been sealed at the time of their birth.

The first images of the series consist of photographic portraits of infants in fluffy cribs and surrounded by toys and dolls. In successive images, González has created differents family tableaux where people dressed in costumes and clothing in allusive situations poses in front of the camera, holding the lifeless creatures.

The living beings in these photographs embody different archetypal characters within the heritage of pop culture, such as hot nuns, fallen angels, naughty priests, bandits, saints or even the figure of the conventional mother and father. The presence of these fantasy humans generates a strong contrast with the children, which helps to build a possible story - always in the realm of fiction - around the dead creature. This series is a tribute to the spirit of the dead who are forgotten and in the case of these bodies, given over to the study of science. In “Remember me when I died with my last heartbeat” the artist performs a symbolic act of retribution seeking permanence of the soul of those children who, due to a genetic condition or a premature disease,were not able grow up in the sinful world of the living.

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Mavado Charon THE GARDEN OF Apocaliptic pleasure Through drawing Mavado Charon has created a fantasy world inhabited by men whose only law is determined by an insatiable appetite for sex and destruction. The protagonists of the works of Mavado Charon are the survivors of a mysterious catastrophe that has left them stripped of all humanity and abandoned to the frenzy of brutal sex assaults and death. Within this cosmos the “heroes” wander between orgies and games of mutilation looking for either a meaning or some sensation that restores their human condition. But it is always seems to be too late, each one is in a condition of extreme desensitization where not even the waves of brutality flowing without pause is able to stop them.

In 2017, Mavado Charon published “Dirty” through Mania Press. In a short time “Dirty” became a classic in the world of underground publishing. That same year “Eros Armado” was published and some of his drawings were appeared in a special supplement from the erotic edition of Estrellita Mía. In 2018 “Dirty” won the Prix Sade, as the art book of 2018. Mavado Charon has exhibited his works in numerous exhibitions and fairs, mainly in Europe. During this year two publications of the artist have been published, “Whore” and “Sluts”.

In the visual stories created by the artist, the context where its protagonists move is a disintegrated time /space, as in a sinister post-futurist story the present is eternal and claustrophobic without any relief or moment of escape. His latest books, “Whore” and “Sluts” explore, from different perspectives and situations, perversion as an integral portion of a survival drive in a world severed from every rule. In Charon’s narratives the90

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re is no safe space, at any moment luck can turn 360º with totally unexpected results.

“Whore” is made up of small stories where the “hero” goes through a post-apocalyptic world where there is absolutely nothing left. The beings that inhabit it have clearly lost and / or renounced all desire for redemption and their sense of preservation has focused on the longing to feel a little more pleasure before falling off the cliff. Our central protagonist, armed with a knife, takes advantage of every opportunity to participate in any situation that would involve wild and bloody sex. As in the other stories of Mavado Charon, it is complex to determine the limit of the vileness of the characters, the hero of “Whore”, subsists beyond good and evil, even when it seems to us that he has lost, or that the violent frenzy his opponents will consume him, he finally wins. Finally the personality of these antagonists is not so far from what we see in reality, the contemporary being turns out to be doubly cynical and extremely more suicidal.

In contrast, with “Whore” the plot of “Sluts” presents us with a wider variety of main characters and, therefore, a greater display of behavioral traits: on the one hand we have those with the power to control their environment - through silly games, sexual dynamics and many types of sharp-pointed elements - and on the other, TinyStar

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pages from Mavado charon’s recent book “Sluts”

those protagonists who are inexorably at the mercy of the former. At a first level of reading, the control exercised by the powerful ones generates submission and excitement in the less self-sufficient subjects, but also there is a certain weakness displayed that makes things even more messy. It is curious, but at the point of contact between both master and slaves, the author hints at relationships marked by anxiety: in some passages of “Sluts” the brutes who have been treating their prisoners like garbage, just in the midst of the maelstrom of abuse and death exhibit a certain humanity, a certain nod to the idealization of the world that was and will never be again.

On the other hand, such micro-dynamics of humanization function in contrast to the sexually violent behaviors that other characters exhibit throughout “Sluts”. For example, the couple of masked transsexuals who together with another creature also dressed as a nurse and who is clearly hungry for sex unleash the agony of a group of young people handcuffed to the beds of a hospital transformed into a butcher shop.

Both “Whore” and “Slut” manage to remove us from that comfortable space of safety that Western morality has imposed on us, through the dichotomy of good prevailing over evil. In Mavado Charon’s work these ethical binaries simply do not exist.

Like an interstellar incarnation of the Marquis de Sade or perhaps like William Burroughs in full creative expression, the cartoons created by Mavado Charon represent both crude and equally demystifying poetics. During this year we were able to ask him some questions.

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Would like you to tell me about your last book “Whore”’s concept/plot This is a comic book featuring an anti-hero, intentionally weak and ugly. He evolves in a post-apocalyptic world exclusively made up of men only engaged in fucking and killing each other.

How would you describe your older work from the perspective of “whore”?

Even though the book has just been published, this is my very first comic ! For almost 10 years I have only made unique designs, and “Whore” is my first attempt at telling a story. It contains some clumsiness that I subsequently corrected, but it seems to me that the pace of the narration is good. Since then, I have made other comics, like the one published in my book “Dirty”, or “Homo Justice” with gay and ultra-violent superheroes. But “Whore” remains my first successful comic.

How did you get into the arts? When did you begun to create your first pieces?

I started doing these drawings almost a decade ago. For a long time I tried to represent scenes that were both funny and of great sexual violence, without really succeeding. I only showed my drawings on the Internet when I was happy with myself.

How many hours a day do you dedicate to work on your pieces? Do you dedicate to other activities?

Would you tell us about your creative process?

Drawing is not my job. It’s my

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Page from comic book “Whore” passion, an absolute necessity...

I earn my living as a freelance graphic designer. Therefore, I don’t have much time to draw, and I get down to it as soon as I have some free time, even 5 minutes. I draw in a totally improvised way, without ever preparing my drawings or even thinking about them. But it’s a creative process that maybe I’ll change in the future.

Who are these people populating your pieces, where do they came from?

I’m not sure why I love all these gay punks so much ! They come a little from the libertines of Sade, a little from the post-apocalyptic stories of my childhood (Mad Max, the manga Hokuto No Ken) but also from the gay pornos of the 70s and 80s, which I like a lot. Some are very young and very feminine, but I also like to represent a little monstrous, deformed or ugly human beings.

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bodies and facial expressions, and I always try to make them endearing enough, even if they commit acts of great cruelty.

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huge open spaces‌In your works the characters inhabit a post-apocalyptic world where time and space are not so clear for the reader, is there any clues you would like to give us about this?

I especially like to represent what

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is damaged, destroyed, broken.

The modern world in which we are aiming produces very beautiful objects, very coveted, but which very quickly become waste that no longer interests anyone. I like the idea that waste is the most stable thing in our world, it’s what will be left of us for centuries to come.

In” Whore” A quite dark aspect of humanity finds pleasure through extreme acts of violence… Do the polarities of good versus evil have any meaning inside your pieces? Is there any hope for anyone?

No, there is no harm or good in my work. The characters simply obey their desire, they make all their fantasies come true, but they are never punished.

There is no morality in my stories, but perhaps the hope that the most unhealthy or the most condemnable sexual fantasies are what is most beautiful and unique in each of us.

thors who describe extreme sexualities with talent (the French Tony Duvert or Guillaume Dustan, for example). Recently I read Samuel Delany’s “Hogg”, which I recommend to everyone! I also really like the visceral cinema of Cronenberg, and underground and independent comics from all over the world (the American Benjamin Marra or the Japanese Suehiro Maruo for example).

What about the future, are you working in something you would like to share with us?

At the moment, I am working on a new story of several hundred pages to be published by my

Tell me a little about your favorite pieces on literature, art, comic, poetry or movies It may sound obvious, but I love Sade, whom I am an avid reader. Most people insist that Sade is an unreadable author because of the monstrosity of the scenes he describes, but I find that his humor is missed. I think he’s a very funny author! I also really like the novels of William Burroughs, and all the au96

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editor Mania Press (who has already successfully published my book “Dirty”) (https://www.instagram.com/mania.press/). It is an intense work, which connects the scenes of sex and torture in a frenzied and outrageous way. I also draw on large sheets for the publisher Frac de Medusas (https://www.facebook.com/fracdemedusas/), it is an adaptation of a poem by Mexican Luis Felipe Fabre: “La sodomia en nueva

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españa”.

And a few links : https://mavadocharon.bigcartel. com/ https://www.instagram.com/mavadocharon/

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