6 minute read
Wide VercnockeTrinity
by Centrala
Trinity
Wide Vercnocke
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After the Second World War, Ferdinand Vercnocke, authors’ grandfather, was sentenced to ten years in prison for collaboration for putting his writing skills at the service of the German occupier. He was released after five years, and twenty years later he was rehabilitated.. The Vercnocke family would hardly talk about that black past, not even after his death in 1989. In 2015, Bout Vercnocke considers the time finally ripe to dig up the dark past of his father: how and to what extent his father collaborated, how big was his involvement and responsibility? Drieman is a partly autobiographical, partly magicalrealistic comic in which Wide Vercnocke sheds light on both the search for the actions of his grandfather during the Second World War and how he deals with the result of this search.
A breath-taking visualisation. A powerful and profound statement.
NRC HANDELSBLAD
A sensitive, intriguing and moving graphic novel. His best to date.
DE STANDAARD
Wide Vercnocke (b. 1985) studied at Sint-Lukas in Brussels, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts, Graphic Design department. His graduation work immediately became his first published comic: „My Muse Lies On The Settee”. This was followed by „Wild meat” (2014), „Narwal” (2016) and „Drieman” (2020). His books are published by Bries. In between, he works as a freelancer, his drawings have appeared in Humo, Focus Knack and De Standaard or as large murals. As an illustrator he is also associated with „De Sprekende Ezels”, a stage for poetry, word and music. He describes himself as a ‘writer and illustrator of tear-jerkers’. In his graphic novels, he combines a fascinating drawing style with often abstract but poetic stories, in which physicality plays an important role. Language and image are given equal weight, and Vercnocke plays deftly with both. He is building an oeuvre that is impressively unique and unconventional.
Puppet, Plum Pit, Plum, Log and Back to Puppet
Vojtěch Mašek, Chrudoš Valoušek
’The story is filled with twists and turns, escapades, absurd humour and wonderful linocuts.’
Pinocchio, Carlo Collodi’s peppy impish wooden puppet, must encounter many adventures before finally coming to his senses... But what must a plum pit endure before it can become a puppet? This adventurous and comic tale told by a talking plank recounts the winding and capricious life story of a plum pit given to escapades. Screenwriter, comic book creator and author, Vojtěch Mašek, exhibits a sense for lively, nearly theatrical, storytelling and returns absurdist humor and biting levity to the children’s literary scene. Abundant linocut illustrations and graphics by artist Chrudoš Valoušek are, as always, stunning.
The beloved puppet of children’s literature, a figure that has been a continuous inspiration for artists all over the world, here presents an entirely new gallery of heroes and adventures. The graphic design plays with scale. The pages are peopled with historiated initials reminiscent of illuminated manuscripts, giant page numbers, avant-garde references and a medley of geometrical characters, their neon colours boldly outlined in black. Spread after spread, the mix of different layouts and the uncommon use of line-cut technique make for a truly extraordinary picturebook.
The Jury of Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2019
Vojtěch Mašek is the author and illustrator of a dozen graphic novels, including Elephants in Marienbad, Look for Doc. Woman in Everything, Pandemonium, St. Barbora, Sisters Dietl, The Dragon Never Sleeps, and more. Most of these were awarded the Muriel Prize of the Czech comic festival KomiksFEST! for best story or best graphic novel. He has also written three plays and many screenplays, for which he was nominated by the Oscars for a Student Academy Award and awarded a Crystal Globe for Best feature film in the 52nd International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary.
Chrudoš Valoušek is a unique Czech illustrator, specializing in lynocuts. His book Mix Přísloví won the prize of the Most beautiful book in the world in 2010 in Leipzig. He used to work as a night watchman, now he lives in Prague and works in National Gallery.
© Madla Rutová
Impossible
Catarina Sobral
It all began when everything was in the same place. We don´t know how it appeared, but we do know that the Universe started in a very small space. It seems impossible, but it’s true: when it all began, all the big things were very little.
IMPOSSIBLE tells us the Universe’s history since the Big Bang to the birth of plants, animals and humans. Catarina Sobral’s first nonfiction book is a colorful journey through particles, stars, dinosaurs and our genealogical tree.
In this fantastic book, Catarina Sobral makes a real introduction to cosmology. New questions and statements emerge each time we turn the page, as if it was a very funny game. The magnificent illustration uses a mixture of techniques and materials - drawings, painting,s collages (gluing), pencils-color, markers, pastel - with lots of color and textures. There is space for new experiences and creations: the important thing is to imagine, (re) invent. The end pages are mark the beginning and the end of this cosmic adventure and, in the end, the characters are wrapped in stardust. We know that our DNA is present in the same fiber with which the stars are embroidered - after all, we are also made of stardust. We sparkle. And we sparkle even more after reading Impossible.
Júlia Martins, in Deus me Livro
Catarina Sobral is a Portuguese awardwining illustrator, published internationally and praised by readers and critics all over the world. Catarina is also an animation film director. She is the author of STRIKE, ACHIMPA, MY GRANDAD, SO SO BIG and IMPOSSIBLE, all published by Orfeu Negro. Her books have been published in many countries and her work is a regular presence in editorial illustrations, album covers, posters and exhibitions around the world. Her picture books have won prizes such as the International Award for Illustration at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Best Picture Book by the International Comics Festival Amadora BD or Best Children’s Book by the Portuguese Authors’ Society. Her work was also distinguished as a finalist at the Golden Pinwheel Award, the Nami Concours or Ilustrarte, to name a few. IMPOSSIBLE is her most recent book, which was published in October 2018, and is her first non-fiction book. While Catarina does not attain to just one technique, her preference falls almost always on a limited palette of colors, and she explores mixing textures and patterns in full rich and bidimensional images. Catarina has illustrated thirteen books and written ten of them.
© Helena Tom
