My paintings from last year’s BLEED exhibition (by CBK/Tusen Serier):
The exhibition was made for the release of CBAvol35.
You can see more exhibition photos at Tusen Serier, samples from the book at CBK where you can also order it.
Please do; CBK desperately needs money (crowdfunding thing coming up soon) and it’s a really good issue.
I think I’m just drawing now because I should really work on some applications and/or a few different books and/or a crowdfunding campaign and/or an information folder and all of it is unpaid work but it needs to be done and no one else is doing it (because they can’t or won’t or just don’t) and I just need to smell the pens and I want to have lunch (yeah I know it’s 7 in what I think some of you call “morning” but I’ve only been up for 12 hours and isn’t that when you’re supposed to have lunch and watch a movie?) and continue watching Kurosawa movies or play Limbo or Inside on the PS4 but I still have too much to do and I guess this blog post may be some kind of cry for help or just a moment’s distraction.
And it’s still too early to turn up the volume because the neighbors may still be asleep and I know it’s not nice to wake them.
And I actually feel quite ok and not too stressed-out if it wasn’t for my nagging suspicion that I will have to get out of bed around noon tomorrow and that’s around the time when I usually fall asleep these days.
Edit: It turns out I won’t have to be anywhere until 17 on Thursday, so I can relax a bit after all. Yaay.
New year, new plans. Here are a few mentions of future stuff…
UPCOMING GRAPHIC NOVELS:
En Andra Chans (Tusen Serier) by me and Shko Askari
Sagor från Angered (working title) (Tusen Serier & Blå Stället) by me, Amanda Casanellas & Segal Mohammed
Piracy is Liberation v03 (Wormgod) IF I can only find the time for this, it’d definitely be about time to finally be able to continue this story…
EXHIBITIONS:
Cool Cykel (Tusen Serier presents Tanja Komadina) in February
I don’t want to dream (CBK presents Spyros Verykios and CBAvol36) in May
MORE BOOKS:
Berättelser om Yunnan – minnen från kulturrevolutionen (Tusen Serier) by Emei Burell
CBAvol36: In the pits of madness (CBK) with me as main editor, really excited about this one…
CBAvol37: Fragments (CBK)
FESTIVALS:
I’ll probably be going to the usual ones, maybe something new, we’ll see (preliminary dates)…
Copenhagen Comix (Feb)
SIS (May)
CRACK! (Jun)
Helsinki (Sep)
Novo Doba (Oct)
+ VARIOUS OTHER STUFF
It’s too early to tell yet, but we have some big plans for Hybriden. More news when we know if they will actually happen…
2016 ends and it’s time for a summation. I could comment on the new migration laws, on the ongoing/invigorated persecution of undocumented as well as beggars, the seeming rise of general stupidity, the steady decline of hope as species are going extinct at a rate we haven’t seen since the last ice age, various mad-people in power, abuses perpetrated by various states etc etc (I could also talk about celebrity deaths but why?). But I’m probably going to keep this personal and up-beat(?).
So here are some things I made/was involved in during the year. Mostly unpaid work as usual, which I’m getting increasingly tired of, but what are you going to do? Up-beat, was it? Right. Ok. This is me when I’m unemployed:
COMICS:
The Troll actually came out in the end of 2015, but it was still new when this year started, and it was also my only solo book, so I still feel that it counts.
I had some other plans for upcoming solo books, but none of them have turned into reality. Yet…
Publication-wise when it comes to my own comics, this has been more of an anthology year, with some comics being published in several places:
Viral was drawn in 2015 but published this year in CBAvol30.
Medication, published in CBAvol35: BLEED, Komikaze #42 (web) and #15 (paper) and possibly Alkom’x #9
Idle hands & recreation in CBAvol34: Re: Creation and idleness and possibly Alkom’x #9
Fragments will be in CBAvol37 and possibly Alkom’x #9
Arg Kanin om Samma gamla visa in Asylkalendern 2017.
I sent some of these stories to some other places as well so they may turn up in more places in the future…
ASSOCIATIONS:
Some big steps forward were taken for both Tusen Serier and CBK. Both associations broke some ties with the Swedish Comics Association this year, which feels nice for various reasons that shall remain untold for now. It meant that CBK left the Comics Centre in the Mazetti building where we had been since 2005. Tusen Serier also finished the last project period that was run through the Comics Association. Both of these things lead up to both groups moving together and starting our new exhibition/store/studio/library/storage space Hybriden. We officially opened in March but it definitely feels like we’ve been there for more than a year… The new space also brought a brand-new webshop with it into existence.
CBK also started to get its shit together with the release of CBAvol30: A new hope, which was the first volume made/compiled completely by the new editorial crew. We also published our last graphic novel issue, CBAvol33: Repeat Offenders by Julia Scott, and 3 more anthologies.
FESTIVALS:
There was of course the AltCom 2016 festival, themed WORK. In many ways it felt like it was the best AltCom so far. We managed to create our own pocket universe during those few days in the end of July.
Also visited some other festivals/events (not as many as planned, but enough):
SIS, CRACK!, Oulu art night, Novo Doba, Örebro.
EXHIBITIONS:
–Vasta-Aine was an exhibition at the Oulu Comics Centre, featuring 3 of my recent comics, Medication, Fragments and Happiness.
-I had an exhibition at the CUK Imago in Belgrade during Novo Doba, with some of my old Wormgod prints and some original paintings.
-And, also during Novo Doba, I painted a mural at the Zemun-based cultural centre Matrijaršija.
-The BLEED group exhibition at Hybriden, organized by CBK and Kinga Dukaj, was the coolest exhibition I’ve been a part of for a long while. I made three paintings for this exhibition that took place in the midst of a seriel killer’s murder scene, walls and ceiling covered with plastic sheets, blood (most of it fake) spattered everywhere, special music by Feberdröm…
MORE BOOKS:
Tusen Serier released a batch of new books this year:
Fem historier om prostituerande by Amalia Alvarez
Myling by Amanda Casanellas & Yossra El Said
Mapuche by Jorge Varas Varilla
Void by Susanne Johansson (published in cooperation with Wormgod)
Cool Cykel by Tanja Komadina
THE ANGERED THING:
In November I took over from Amanda Casanellas who was there in October as the Tusen Serier residence artist at Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, a special residency that they had in cooperation with Blå Stället in Angered. During one month I could (mostly) concentrate on one thing instead of a hundred, which was probably quite healthy. I took some breaks to be at the BLEED exhibition and the Örebro festival, but still managed to draw 55 pages based on Amanda’s ideas, which were based on stories from Angered. Urban legends, folk tales, local mythology which we will work into a story to be published at some point during 2017…
LIKE TEARS IN RAIN:
There were probably some more things that might be worth mentioning, some short comics, illustrations, book covers, maybe some project or other, but I simply can’t remember everything and I’m too lazy to look it up.
So I’m going to leave you with a (surprisingly long) list of stuff I’ve watched/played/read in the sessions of downtime squeezed in between all the rest. It’s not all from this year, because only idiots think that there’s no past. And yes, these are just from the top of my head, things I recommend that happened to not slip my mind:
PS3/4:
DMC | Beyond: Two Souls | Enslaved | Alice 2 | The Last Guardian (finally!) | Shadow of the Beast (worthy remake of childhood nostalgia) | Life is strange (just started but seems promising)
TV SERIES (the most noteworthy new discoveries / steady classics):
South Park | Rick & Morty | Westworld | Crazy Head | The OA | Orphan Black | Preacher | Daredevil | Jessica Jones | Luke Cage | Doctor Who (even if there was only one new episodes)
FILMS:
Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen (Kitano is back!) | Sausage Party(!) | Maps to the stars | Lamerica | He never died | Extracted | Mr Six | Batman v Superman (Martha?!) | May Allah bless France | M. Butterfly | Borgman | The Lobster | High-Rise | Schizopolis | Kontroll | The Witch | Urge | Upstream Color | Ghostbusters | Vanishing Waves (ok, I saw this in 2015, but still worth mentioning) | + of course the MCU stuff…
COMICS:
Low | The Wicked + the Divine | Supreme Blue Rose | Starve | Punk Rock Jesus | Empty Zone | Monstress | (all of) Hellblazer | Deadenders | Bitch Planet | Velvet | New Lone Wolf & Cub | Lazarus | Saga | Nameless | Injection | Caliban | Blackgas | Stormwatch (Ellis) | Animal Man (finally caught up on Morrison’s run)| Trees | Deadly Class | Miracleman | Annihilator | + caught up on the X-books up until Secret Wars…
BOOKS:
Woman on the edge of time by Marge Piercy | The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin
Yeah, regular books take me a long time, so 2 in one year is unusually good.
LONG LIVE THE NEW FLESH:
Hope you found something interesting that you might have otherwise missed in these lists, and enjoy the last few hours of the year…
It doesn’t seem to be available online, which is too bad because I liked the story, but today’s HD (Helsingborgs Dagblad) featured a novella that I illustrated. Here are some of the drawings I made:
Until January 1 there is a Christmas SALE in the CBK webshop, where you can find most of my books. You can now buy them, along with other books from Tusen Serier, CBK and Wormgod, at 30% off the regular price!
Take this chance to make your life (and your collection) complete! Shop the last Christmas presents! MAYBE they’ll even arrive before Christmas (no, they won’t)!
So go now to the webshop and use the coupon code: XMAS2016 at the check-out.
In the midst of everything else, I am currently in Gothenburg on an artist’s residency collaboration between Blå Stället in Angered (a suburb of Gothenburg) and Konstepidemin.
Amanda Casanellas was here last month and did research about the myths and legendsa of Angered. This month, I’m continuing that work, trying to take these old stories in new directions and tying them together in a new narrative.
Came home to Malmö over the weekend for the BLEED exhibition and took the opportunity to finish some of the pages.
Tomorrow (Nov 22) at 1630 at Konstepidemin (close to Linnéplatsen) I will do a short presentation about everything, basically. There are also other residence artists who will also present their stuff and ther will be beer etc. And I will have lots of books that you can buy. So drop by if you’re in town!
Here’s one of the pages of the upcoming book:
Edit: The time said 17 before, but my presentation starts at 1630, it turns out…
Really excited about this one. I made some paintings for this exhibition. I also have a comic in the new volume of CBA. I haven’t seen any of the other art but I have a suspicion that it’s all going to be really interesting.
If you can’t make it, you can order the book here.
BLEED: Art exhibition by Tusen Serier & Release party for CBA vol 35 by CBK
Opening: November 18, 17-22 @ Hybriden (Claesgatan 8, Malmö)
The exhibition will remain until November 28.
Join us as we dive into a red world. Tonight we’ll explore just what it means to BLEED. What does blood mean to you? Are you afraid of it? Do you worship it? Or is it just the color that attracts you?
At Hybriden you will see artists draw blood and see their visual interpretations of the theme.
It will indeed be a red experience. We will overwhelm your senses! Not just by the artwork itself, but the music will be tailored for this night. The wine will be blessed and prepared. Amongst all of this we will have a blood fountain.
The exhibition is accompanied by CBA vol 35: BLEED that includes a wide array of comics on the same theme.
Participating artist in the exhibition are:
Vladica Čulić
Merima Dizdarević
Kinga Dukaj
Mattias Elftorp
Bekim Gaši
Aida Ghardagian
Susanne Johansson
Vuk Palibrk
Stefan Petrini
Henrik Rogowski
Rakel Stammer
more may be added…
Music by Markus Samnell (better known as Feberdröm)
See you there!
See also:
Tusen Serier
CBK
Facebook event
The exhibition is a cooperation between Tusen Serier and CBK, with support from Malmö Kulturstöd.
Coming soon: Asylkalendern 2017!
I think it’ll be out in December so you should buy it then! It’s the 2017 calendar from Asylgruppen Lund that they sell to support their support work for asylum seekers. Each year, they invite various artists and writers to provide material for it. This is my entry for this year (click images for bigger version):
English:
I am so fucking tired of this same rant over and over.
But now those assholes have gone and done it again and made it even harder to get some humane treatment if you come here to apply for asylum.
Harder to get into the country, harder to get into Europe…
…harder to get residency. And they’ve made it easier to deport people.
People who never even set foot there are being sent to Afghanistan just because they are willing to receive them, according to the new deal that Swedish authorities have been able to work out with the Taliban.
I’m sure it looks great in the statistics, because now they can enforce more deportations.
“Hooray.”
English:
And Afghanistan may not be the safest country for a vacation, rather one of the worst…
…but now the Taliban have SAID that they represent the country and that it’s safe for refugees to return (even though some of them were born in Iran and have never been in Afghanistan).
And it may be inhumane to send lonely children there, so we solve that problem by just waiting until they turn 18.
So our poor, hard-working officials can go on sleeping well at night.
Assfuck.
Yeah, that’s right. You may have a different image of what Sweden is like, but it’s time to forget that now because that’s old news… It’s also noteworthy that this is a Sweden run by the Social Democrats, so we don’t even need the right wing for this, even if they’d probably do the exact same, or probably worse.
By the way, if you read Swedish, here’s a statement from Tusen Serier.
I’m proud to have been involved in the creation of Susanne Johansson‘s poster for the Örebro comics festival. My part was assisting with the design, but the image is all hers.
She will also show the Void exhibition at the festival (formerly exhibited at this year’s AltCom festival).
And the Hybrid of publishers I am involved in, Tusen Serier, CBK and Wormgod, will also be present with tables at the festival.
