Parallel Event: International Comic Book Exhibition "Meeting Point"
This year the festival will have the honor to include a wonderful exhibition that will make even more apparent the similarities between Cinema and Comics, giving the matter a different perspective.
When paper meets film, sequence of frames meets animation, composition of page meets editing…
In other words, two forms of art so related yet so different will unite, as this year, Peloponnisos International Documentary Film Festival will organize in collaboration with Babel Comic Book Festival an international comic book exhibition. Creators with completely different style and visual writing show their own narrative versions around the theme of the Festival “Claiming Freedom”, in such a crucial way that not only complements but also completes the program of our events.
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Saturday, June 19, 7:30 pm, at A49 Art Galery (Anagnostara 49, Kalamata), where it will be hosted until July 4.
It includes art by: Giuseppe Palumbo and Andrea Bruno, two iconic comic artists, highly acclaimed in the Italian comic scene, the legendary Croatian artist Danijel Zezely that works in Zagreb and New York, three of the most important Greek comic artists. Thanos Petrou, Soloup and Giorgos Mpotsos and Soto Anagno, graphic designer-Illustrator and creative director of Babel.
The theme of the exhibition and the pieces were selected by the creative team behind the Babel International Festival, focusing on both the narrative and visual aspects meanwhile giving the creative freedom of expression to the comic artists to fully realize their art.
A few words about the artists:
Thanasis Petrou was born in Thessaloniki in 1971. He studied French literature, sociolinguistics and comics. From 2008 until today, 14 books with his comics have been published in various publishing houses. He worked for five years in the comics magazine supplement "9" featured in the Eleftherotypia newspaper. In 2012 he began teaching at AKTO Art & Design, where he has remained ever since.
Sotos Anagnos was born in Athens. He works in illustration, graphic design and comics. His work has been published in various magazines, books, fanzines and webzines Thames & Hudson, Internazionale, Vavel, Athensvoice, Lifo, Maxim, Beast, Strukt etc. He has occasionally worked in advertising and in the art direction and production of printed material. He has taken part in exhibitions inside and outside of Greece. Samples of his experimentation can be found at: www.behance.net/sotosanagnos
Danijel Žeželj is A prominent Croatian comic book creator, painter and illustrator. Born in Zagreb in 1966, he studied fine arts. He immigrated from his homeland in 1991 first to London, then to Italy and later to Seattle, USA and established himself with his dynamic style of black and white depictions of gray stories using harsh but poetic narration. He has published over 20 books that have been translated into many languages. A collaborator of DC comics/Vertigo, Marvel comics, New York Times Book Review, Harper's Magazine, the San Francisco Guardian, Grifo Edizioni, Edizione Charta and others. Since 1999, along with musician and composer Jessica Lurie, they have created a series of multimedia performances combining live music and painting that has been presented at many festivals in Europe and the USA. He was the first comic artist to host a solo exhibition at the Isabell Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In 2001, he founded the Petikat publishing house / design laboratory in Zagreb. Multilayered, deeply human, political without being didactic or cheap, he moves between Europe and America, in mainstream and alternative circles, always keeping high artistic and moral standards. He lives and works in-between New York and Zagreb.
Giuseppe Palumbo is one of the biggest comic book creators in Italy. He was born in Matera in 1964 and studied archeology and philology. He first published his comics in 1986 in the iconic magazines Frigidaire
and Syborg, creating the masochistic superhero Ramarro. He has been published in major European magazines and his Cut, Jumbo and Tosca la mosca series have been a huge success in Japan. His first contact with popular comics was in the mid-1990s, when he designed several out-of-series issues of Martin Mystere. From 2001 until today he has been actively contributing to the revival of the famous hero of the Italia comic scene, Diabolik. Muti award-winning, he has been featured in many solo exhibitions and his works have been published in France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Japan, USA, Belarus and Ceylon. In recent years, through the creative team Action 30, he has been socially active, participating in performances throughout Europe with the aim of raising awareness against fascism and racism.
Yiorgos Botsos was born in Athens in 1960. In 1983 he graduated from the Politic Department of Law School of Athens. He has been a regular contributor on the magazine Babel since 1987 and has participated in all the Festivals directed by the magazine. His work is characterized by vibrant colors and a unique style that combines expressionism with the 9th Art. His artistic work has been presented in many individual and group exhibitions in Greece and internationally. He has been teaching and directing the “comics and cartoon” department at the AKTO College of Art & Design.
Andrea Bruno was born in Catania in 1972. He started making comics in the early 1990s. His work has been published in many Italian and international anthologies and periodicals, such as Black Indian Ink Amok, 2000, Mano, Schizzo, Black, Le Cheval Sans Tête, De Brakke Hond, Rosetta and Strapazin. He lives in Bologna and he is one of the founding members of Canicola. In 2007 he published his comic story "Brodo di Niente". Andrea Bruno is one of the most interesting comic book artists on global level. Among his influences are the great masters of the Italian and Argentine schools, including Alberto Breccia, José Munoz, Sergio Toppi and Hugo Pratt. Andrea Bruno is interested in stories
originating from real life. For the past twenty years the artist has created an increasingly personal style by abandoning the line and pen in favor of black ink spots and by using a brush and pieces of corrugated cardboard. This technique allows for an impressionist-expressionist effect: the figures, bodies and faces are created by the stark contrast of the deep blacks and the pure whites as they emerge as a reflection from the paper.
Soloup is a political cartoonist (satirical and political newspaper “To Pondiki” and street magazine “Sxedia”) and a comic book creator. He studied Political Sciences at Panteion University and is a Ph.D in the department of Cultural Technology and Communication at the University of the Aegean. His post-doctoral research is on the depiction of the Greek Revolution from the year 1800 to the present day as viewed through the visual arts, prints, comics etc. The 1821 graphic novel is part of this research. He has published more than 17 comic collections and books in his career. His comics have been translated in many languages and he has collaborated twice with the Benaki Museum. His art has traveled all over Europe and America.