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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
The Genius of Carlos Nine Comes to London
Posted: November 23, 2010
I am buzzing. I have just met one of the truly great Argentine geniuses of comics, Carlos Nine, and his charming wife Alicia, who arrived in London yesterday from the BD Festival in Colomiers, France. They are staying in London for the next few days before heading over to Paris where Carlos has a major one-man art exhibition opening at the Galerie BDArtiste at 55 rue Condorcet, 75009 till January 5, 2011.
Ever since discovering Nine’s intoxicating, lushly surreal draughtsmanship, a mesmerising fusion of vintage American animation and grand Old Master drawings and paintings, I’ve been hoping his work will arrive in English. This month finally sees the first translation, a Dungeon: Monstres episode by Sfar & Trondheim published by NBM. Here’s a glimpse at one interior page from his story Heartbreaker. The interiors of this album are drawn in fevered lines with flat colours overlayered, but it’s the front cover, in its luscious tones, that hints at the wonders of Nine’s fully painted comics and illustrations. Let’s hope this might lead to more of Nine’s dazzling artworks being put into English, both his solo books, including Saubon: Le Canard Qui Aimait Les Poules which won the Best International Album prize at the Angoulême Festival, and his fruitful collaborations such as the three-volume Pampa by writer Jorge Zentner.
Come and meet this multi-talented innovator tomorrow night (Wednesday, 24 November) at the That’s Novel exhibition at London Print Studio, hub of this year’s Comica Festival, where he’ll be talking with me and Sylvia Libedinsky about his work. In fact, most of the daytime, Nine will be over at the Studio demonstrating and interacting with their Comics Interns, organised by Karrie Fransman and preparing an exclusive piece to be made into a special Comica print. To book tickets for this Nine Comica Argentina night, click here. Nine is taking comics into incredible imaginative territories - now we can start to join him on his extraordinary journeys!
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