Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Interview Patricia Breccia about her father Alberto Breccia and her works - English



Mort reads Valentina by ED


Manuel Santo: Your father was born before WWI in 1919 in Uruguay and later went with his family to Buenos Aires In Argentina.

Patrícia Breccia: You're right. My father was born in Uruguay, in Pocitos and came to Argentina when he was a small boy. He loved Uruguay, he never wanted to become an Argentine citizen. About Uruguay's influence in his work, I don't know if he had it, because his childhood and his friends and life, have them in Buenos Aires and in his childhood  in a small town called Mataderos. It was a small town filled with beautiful people and cutlers, that he visited a few months before his death.

2
I remember being a child and reading something about Ernie Pike character drawn by your father in 1959, "Mort Cinder" in 1964, "Che" in 1968, as well as "The Eternaut" In 1969 and In the following year "Evita", all of them with Hector Oesterheld script in magazines that I've read that came from Spain.
 Could you tell us a bit about the companionship of these two genius, his origins and if Argentina politics has influenced these masterpieces that were drawn phenomally by him? 


I think that he drew only some parts of Ernie Pike. He and Oesterheld began their work together with "Sherlock Time" that was published in "Hora Cero" in 1958.
 The first time that they met was in 1955, in a party given in Hugo Pratt's house, when he lived in Argentina. After came the meetings at our town in Haedo, at the time that they were making "Mort Cinder" in a famous restaurant in the hystorical street named Corrientes. The restaurant's name was "El palacio de las papas fritas". 
 They really admired each other... But they weren't close friends, They didn't have that cumplicity among two friends...
In Hector's scripts, always existed a social background and in his latest stories, the political theme was obvious. My father's drawing skills were phenomenal. I agree with you.

3
In the 70's, I've read your father's genius with literary adaptations of American Writer H.P. Lovecraft in 1974 and some Edgar Allan Por stories in 1974, some of them had script by Argentine Writer Carlos Trillo.
Can you tell us a bit of the techniques that your father used to create these masterpieces? 


When he drew Lovecraft with Norberto Buscaglia (that was his brother in law because of being married with my sister Cristina), my father used watercolor, monocopy, collage and ink china. There were some pages that he used only pencil.
If I remember correctly, some of his Poe's literary adaptations are in color, he used acrylic painting on them. When he used his literary adaptation of "Tell tale heart", he used only black and white and changed a bit the scenario of his story, because he thought that was necessary to tell the tale in his own way. He left only of the original story, the victim, the aggressor and the police (that are three identical men), to whom he cut their eyes, because as he told, the Law has no face.

4
In 1981 your father did several literary adaptations by Italian Writer Papini, Belgian Writer Jean Ray, American Writer Robert Louis Stevenson, Japanese Writer Lafcadio hearn and In the same year made his literary adaptation of short tales by German writers Grimm Bros in color.
Was your father a supernatural lover and used color to cause chills to the readers? 


My father was addicted to the supernatural, but I don't think that he used color to cause chills. I think that he used it, because the story demanded it or because he simply wanted to put color in them... For him, each story and a blank page was a challenge for him to solve.

5
Your father worked a lot with Argentine Writer Carlos Trillo in the 70's and 80's in short stories and in a lovely story named "Buscavidas".
Can you tell us a bit about this particular story? 


In "Buscavidas", my father drew little short tales about real life based in how we saw it, sometimes being silly, others being fantastic. It was the miserable life of small towns in Buenos Aires, the suburban area of his childhood.
 Obviously, the stories were a bit grotesque, so the artwork couldn't be realistic, so he changed his technique and style, being it more expressionist and grotesque, using conventional elements to express himself better.


6
Perramus masterpiece with script by Juan Sasturain made in 1983 was a bit different from all his other previous works in graphic terms.
 Do you think that this masterpiece also has Influences of a political state, since Argentina at the time was passing from a dictatorship to a democracy? 

In "Perramus", he also used monocopy, collage and watercolor. It's a story made with grey tones.
 It exists a clear political issue in Juan Sasturain's script, but my father didn't cared about politics or politicians. For him politicians, being them from the right, left or center party were all liarsvand thieves and under all the government politics, the poor were still poor, kids were dying of hungry and mysery was everywhere.
He was a sensitive man with injustice, because of that, he didn't loved politicians and he was right. 


7
Your father made several literary adaptations from several writers like Argentine Ernesto Sabato's "report on the blind", Moral tales in 1991 based on Robert Louis Stevenson named "the other part of Dr. Jekyll" and "the good, the death and tango" with Richard Boucheron and in 1993 your father published literary adaptations of several well known writers of Latin America such as Argentine José Luís Borges, Uruguayan Juan Carlos Onetti, Mexican Juan Rolfo, Cuban Alejo Carpentier, Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Brazilian writer João Guimarães Rosa.
Was your father a fan of Classic Latin America literature masterpieces? 


My father loved reading and he was a man with a huge cultural knowledge. (In my home at Haedo, we had more than 4.000 books that covered his Studio walls from the floor to the ceiling in each house that he had, obviously he was a fan of Latin American literature.


8
Your father was friends of artists such as Argentine José Muñoz and Italian Hugo Pratt (and made some works with both of them) and created an art school in Argentina.
Can you tell us a bit about this school? 


Yes. The school was named "IDA" (instituto de directores de Arte). He founded it with other Argentine partners such as Soule, Pereyra, Borisoff, Spagnuolo, a little while after my mother's passing. We taught his comic books passion and Illustration.
 It was a beautiful institute.. Many people from cultural scene visited it, because it had  also an excellent movie theater. (That belonged to Rodríguez Jurado), it also had theatrical performances and other cultural activities.
 2 or 3 times, Argentine Writer José Luís Borges gave there lectures with other Argentine writers such as Manuel Mujica Lainez, Ernesto Sábato among others.
 In it, we could see tango concerts, presentation of books and writers, painters, exhibitions.. So, the artistic and cultural level was real high. It was wonderful.

9
I know that you're also a graphic artist and I love your work. Do you think that your artwork came with your father's genes or were you and your brother Enrique influenced because you were gazing your father's work? 

I think that the love and the skills for art in our family is a genetic thing, because my grandfather also drew and my uncle Humberto also (he was my father's elder brother), but they weren't professionals.
 But of course, while growing up as a family where we saw our father drawing all the time, made our love for this art form become bigger.


10
Can you tells us a bit of how was your father as a family man and a human being? 


My father was a quiet man, sensible and with a great sense of humour, an intelligent one.. (We were laughing with him all the time). He was real gentle, kind and protected us (but didn't intruded in our life). He became widow when he was young and had to take care of three little kids, I was real small then, Enrique and my sister were teenagers. It wasn't easy for him dealing with all this, lots of sadness in our home, but he made it fade away and put us in the right track as he could, while doing it the best way. He was a wonderful person and very wise.


11
How was it for you to grew up in Argentina with a comic book icon such as your father? 


Well, I was aware, since I was a child what was comic books as a genre and especially in Argentina, that my father was one of the best ever, (if not the best).
 In the beginning for me was something natural having a father that was a well known artist, like for other friends of mine having a father that was famous as a doctor, with time, I realized that being Breccia's daughter could be something wonderful and difficult at the same time, because my father was admired by lots of people, respected and loved, being also despised by other medíocre people that exists in any social environment.


12
Do you think that your father's bibliography is well edited and published or someone could do new books with your father's masterpieces, being him the genius that he was? 


Well, I think that my father's books deserve to be published and in deluxe editions.
There are some beautiful ones and well edited, but my desire and my brother and sister have the same desire, is to see his books like he wanted him to see them.

Entrevista Patrícia Breccia sobre su padre Alberto Breccia y sus trabajos - Spanish

El maestro Alberto Breccia


Patricia Breccia cuando era niña

01 

Tu padre ha nacido después de la primera guerra mundial en 1919 y en un país pequeño llamado Uruguai y despues ha ido com su familia para Buenos Aires em Argentina.
El hablaba mucho de sus origens y de como ellas han influenciado su trabajo? 



Asi es, Mi padre nacio en Uruguay, en Pocitos, y vino a  la Argentina siendo muy pequeño. El amaba al Uruguay, de hecho, nunca quiso nacionalizarse Argentino.
Sobre la influencia en su trabajo, no sé si la ha tenido, porque sus verdadera crianza, y sus vivencias,las tuvo luego aquí, y en su barrio de la infancia, Mataderos. Barrio de guapos y cuchilleros, que visitó hasta pocos meses antes de su muerte.

02 

Recuerdo de quando era niño ter leido algo del personaje Ernie Pike dibujado por tu padre en 1959, Mort Cinder en 1964, Che en 1968, asi como El Eternauta en 1969 y Evita en año seguinte, todos con guión de Hector Oesterheld en revistas que leia oriundas de España.
Podrias nos decir la cumplicidad que estos gênios tenian y se sus origines y la política Argentina les ha influenciando tambien en estas obras maestras.
En estas obras los dibujos de tu padre eran magistrales.








Creo que dibujó muy pocas de Ernie Pike
El verdadero comienzo con Oesterheld vino con "Sherlock Time", que lo dibujó, para "Hora Cero" en 1958.


La primer vez que ellos se conocieron,  fue en el año 55, en una fiesta que dió el tano Pratt en su casa. 
Luego vinieron las reuniones en mi casa de Haedo, o , en la época en que estaban pergeñando "Mort Cinder" en un conocido restaurante, de la histórica calle Corrientes,  que se llamaba "El palacio de las papas fritas". 
Ambos se admiraban mucho, por supuesto...pero no llegaron a ser muy  amigos, quiero decir,no existía ésa complicidad extrema que puede haber entre dos amigos...
En los guiones de Héctor siempre existió un trasfondo social..claro. 
Y en sus últimas historias, el tinte político ya era evidente.
En cuanto al dibujo de mi padre, sí, estamos de acuerdo, eran magistrales.
 
03

En los años 90, quando ya era un poco mayor, he visto la genialidade de tu padre con adaptaciones literárias de Lovecraft en 1974, de Edgar Allan Poe en 1974, algunas con guión de Carlos Trillo.
Puedes nos decir un poco la técnica que tu padre ha utilizado para crear estas obras maestras? 



Cuando dibujó el Lovecraft, con adaptaciones de Norberto Buscaglia, (en ése momento, su yerno, ya que era el marido de mi hermana Cristina) mi padre utilizó aguadas, monocopia, collage, y tinta china. 
También hay páginas donde dejo solamente el lápiz, nada mas.
Si mal no recuerdo, algunas adaptaciones de Poe, son a color. 
Ahí utilizaba acrílico.
En cambio cuando realizó su adaptación de "El corazón delator" , Utilizó solo blanco y negro puro,  jugó con la repetición de los cuadritos, y eliminó todo lo innecesario de la historia, lo que el consideraba que molestaba para la narración. 
Dejó solamente los personajes.
La victima, el victimario, y la policía,(que son tres tipos iguales) a los que les sacó hasta los ojos. Porque, según decía,  la Ley no tiene cara.


04 

En 1981 tu padre ha hecho muchas adaptaciones literárias de Papini, Jean Ray, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lafcadio hearn y en esto mismo año ha hecho su version de los cuentas de los hermanos Grimm, me acuerdo de todas estas histórias en color.
 Le gustaba a tu padre el sobrenatural y por eso ha metido color en estas historietas para ellas crear calafrios en el público con la estética particular de tu padre? 



Bueno, a el le gustaban mucho las narraciones fantásticas, y sombrías, claro. pero no creo que haya utilizado el color para provocar escalofríos, para nada. Creo mas bien que lo utilizó porque consideró que la historia así lo exigía.O porque tenía ganas de meterles color, simplemente... 
Para él, cada historia,y la página en blanco, era un desafío que debía resolver.

05

Tu padre ha trabajado mucho con Carlos Trillo en los 70 y 80 en histórias cortas y numa história para mi encantadora llamada "Buscavidas".
Poderia nos dicer lo que miraba tu padre en la vida, te pergunto esto por esta história me ha marcado mucho.

En el "Buscavidas" mi padre trató de dibujar, en ésas pequeñas historias cotidianas,y muchas veces disparatadas y fantásticas, la vida, a veces miserable, que transcurría en ésos barrios de cielos bajos..
los suburbios de su infancia.
Obviamente, al ser las historias un tanto grotescas, el dibujo no podía ser realista, así  que tuvo que  modificar su técnica, y transformar también su dibujo, en algo mas expresionista y grotesco, utilizando elementos no convencionales para expresarse mejor.

06

La obra maestra Perramus con guión de Juan Sasturain hecha en 1983 era um poco distinta de las otras anteriores en termos gráficos (una completa barbaridad).
Piensas que esta obra tambien tien influências del estado político dado que Argentina ha pasado de una ditadura para uma democracia.
Le gustaba a tu padre los temas políticos tambien? 


En "Perramus" utilizó también la monocopia, el collage,  y las aguadas...
Es una historieta hecha a base de grises. Sí, existe un claro tinte político en el guión de Sasturain, por supuesto, pero si me preguntas si a mi padre le interesaba la política, te digo que no. No en el sentido estricto de la palabra...para él, los políticos , tanto de derecha,de centro, o de izquierda, eran igual de delincuentes y mentirosos, y bajo todas las políticas de gobierno, los pobres seguían siendo pobres, los chicos seguían muriéndose de hambre, y la miseria no menguaba. 
Era un hombre sensible, que lo conmovían las injusticias, por eso mismo, descreía de los políticos...y tenía razón.

07
Tu padre ha hecho algunas obras en 1991 como Informe sobre ciegos (1991), baseada em uma obra de Ernesto Sabato.
Historias con moraleja (1991): "El otro yo del Dr. Jekyll", "El guapo, la muerte y el tango"
Vários acrílicos que foram utilizados para o filme El viaje, dirigido por Pino Solanas (1991).
El Dorado, el delirio de Lope de Aguirre (1992), guion de Carlos Albiac.
Martín Fierro, de José Hernández, Doedytores (2004). Ilustrações feitas em 1991.
Y en 1993 han sido publicadas tambien versiones literárias como  de escritores mui famosos de América Latina como el Argentino José Luís Borges, el uruguayo Juan Carlos Onetti, el mexicano Juan Rolfo, el Cubano Alejo Carpentier, el colombiano Gabriel Garcia Marquez y el Brasileño João Guimarães Rosa.
Era tu padre un aficionado tambien de los clássicos de literatura de America Latina? 




Mi padre era un gran lector,y un tipo de una enorme cultura (en mi casa de Haedo había mas de 4.000  libros tapizando las paredes del estudio, hasta el techo, y en cada habitación, que no eran pocas... 
me preguntabas si era un aficionado de los clásicos de la  Literatura Latinoamericana...? 
por supuesto que sí. 
Te lo respondo con lo que te  escribí mas arriba.

08 
Tu padre era amigo de artistas como Hugo Pratt, José Muñoz (y ha hecho algunos trabajos con estos dos) y muchos otros y el ha creado una escuela de arte en Argentina.
Nos puedes hablar de esta misma escola? 

Alberto Breccia con José Muñoz 


Alberto Breccia en el instituto de directores de Arte


Así es. La Escuela se llamaba "IDA" (instituto de directores de Arte) la fundó con otros socios.(Soule, Pereyra, Borisoff, Spagnuolo) poco tiempo después de la muerte de mi madre. 
El enseñaba Historieta e ilustración.
Bueno, era un instituto hermoso... 
lo visitaba mucha gente de la cultura, también, ya que además, contaba con una cinemateca muy importante, (la de Rodríguez Jurado)  también había teatro, y otro montón de actividades culturales. Dos o tres veces, fué J.L. Borges a dar conferencias, Manuel Mujica Lainez, Sábato,etc. 
Había conciertos de tango, peñas de escritores, pintores, exposiciones, presentaciones de libros... 
Así que imaginate el nivel artístico y cultural del que estamos hablando, no? Una maravilla.


09
Se que tu, tambien eres artista gráfica y me encanta tu obra, piensas que la arte puede venir de una forma genética o ha sido solo por mirares las obras de tu padre que te has influenciado asi como tu hermana Cristina y tu hermano Enrique

Cristina, Patricia y Enrique Breccia 


Trabajo artistico de Patricia Breccia en homenaje al personaje Valentina de Guido Crepax que ha sido enseñado en exposiciones en Portugal, Finlandia y Estados Unidos da América con mas de 100 artistas internacionales (que también hicieron homenajes a Valentina) con mi curadoria y que ha sido tambien publicado en la editora norte americana Fantagraphics (tambien com otros artistas mundiales) en libros limitados de homenaje a Crepax organizados por mi devido a la publicacion a nível mondial de la coleccion completa de Crepax (también organizada y editada por mi) 


Página de Patricia Breccia 

Página de Cristina Breccia

Pagina de Enrique Breccia

Yo creo que el gusto y la facilidad por el dibujo, en nuestra familia, es algo genético. 
Porque mi abuelo tambien dibujaba, y mi tío Humberto (el hermano mayor de mi padre) hasta llegó a publicar alguna que otra historieta, y tengo entendido que había otros familiares (algunos tíos de mi padre) que también dibujaban, pero no de manera profesional. 
Pero por supuesto que crecer en una familia donde veíamos a un padre que dibujaba todo el día, agudizó el amor por esta profesión, desde ya.  
Entonces, la publicación, luego, vino de forma natural.

10
Poderias nos decir como era tu padre como jefe de una família y como persona? 


Mi padre fue un hombre cálido, sencillo, con un enorme sentido del humor, de un humor tan inteligente...(cómo nos reíamos con él !!! ) muy tierno y protector (pero nada invasivo) Imaginate que quedo´viudo siendo todavía  joven, y tuvo que hacerse cargo de la crianza de tres hijos chicos, al menos yo era muy chica todavía. 
Enrique y mi hermana, dos adolescentes. 
No fue nada fácil esa etapa, había mucha tristeza en mi casa, y él supo salir adelante , y sacarnos adelante, cómo pudo, pero lo hizo de la mejor manera. Fue una persona maravillosa, muy sabia.


11
Cómo ha sido para ti cresceres en Argentina con un ícono de los tebeos como tu padre? 

Patricia Breccia en niña

Bueno, siempre supe, desde que tomé conciencia de lo que representaba la historieta como género, y sobre todo en la Argentina, que mi padre era uno de los mejores, (sino el mejor) Al principio era tan natural para mi tener un padre dibujante, como era tener un padre doctor, para alguna de mis amigas...
pero, con el tiempo, me di cuenta que ser la hija de Breccia podía ser algo maravilloso, y difícil al mismo tiempo... porque mi padre era extremadamente admirado, respetado y querido,(por un lado), pero denostado muchas veces, por parte de la mediocridad que existe en cualquier ambiente.

12 
piensas que la obra de tu padre esta bien editada y publicada o piensas que se poderian hacer nuevos libros dedicados al genio que ha sido tu padre? 

Bueno, yo pienso que la obra de mi padre merece más publicaciones, y en ediciones de lujo. Hay publicaciones lindísimas, y maravillosamente editadas, pero mi deseo, y el de mis hermanos, es ver su obra, como a él le gustaría verla.

Interview to Danijel Zezelj about his works and upcoming release of portuguese edition of "Luna Park" - Levoir


01
Manuel Santo: You're a graphic novelist, animator and illustrator born In Croatia with a singular and original art technique. 
Can you tell us what is the raw material that you use while doing your artworks? 

Danijel Zezelj 
My technique for drawing comics and most of the illustrations is black ink and white acrylic on a heavy paper. I use brushes of various sizes and sometimes sponge, and originals are around A3 size. 
For big paintings I use acrylic paint on wood, and often use small rollers as well as brushes. 
The sizes are anywhere from 50 x 70 cm to 300 x 150 cm.

02
You're quite popular in Italy published by Grifo Edizioni and other publishing houses, also in France by Mosquito and for U.S.A for DC, Image, Marvel among others.
Do you feel yourself as a complete and recognized artist in the world? 

I don’t see myself as widely recognized and I definitely do not feel as if my learning and exploring has been completed. 
There are many techniques of visual storytelling and painting that I still want to dive in.
It’s the necessity of communication, of connecting to others, that triggers the creativity, and I hope to keep communicating. 

03
In ritmo del cuore published by Grifo Edizioni In 1993  Federico Fellini made an introduction to your book. 
I find it fascinating your work being acknowledged by one of the best movie directors ever. 
What drove Fellini to write an introduction to this book? 


Federico Fellini was part of the creative team behind the magazine Il Grifo, and he really liked the comics I sent to the Grifo publisher at the time. 
I actually didn’t even know that Fellini has seen my work, but when my first graphic novel "Il ritmo del cuore" was about to be published as a hardcover book, Vincenzo Mollica, one of the publishing directors at the time, told me that Fellini wanted to write a few introductory sentences. Which was an immense honor.


I grew up with Fellini’s films, and Amarcord is still one of my favorite movies ever.




04
In 1998, you made a literary adaptation of "The Plague" by Algerien Writer Albert Camus and In 2000 a book about russian Writer Vladimir Mayakovsky
What sort of influence their writings have on your work?



I read a lot and constantly, i find huge power and inspiration in good writing. 
Writers are lost souls, lonely warriors, they create worlds out of dead letters, I can relate to their despairs and hopes. 
Right now I’m working on a wide series of portraits of writers which I hope to eventually collect as a book and an exhibition. The  working title is The Savage Detectives (an homage to Roberto Bolano).



05
In 2004, you made a book called "small hands" as a sort of homage about American musician Thelonious Monk. Can you tell us something about the Impact of the music In your work as well? 


Music is another important inspiration for me and Small Hands was an attempt to capture the feel of Monk's creativity, and the way he used the time, the rhythm, the pause, the silence, in his music. He was also a peculiar character, verbally almost incomprehensable, but his composing and piano playing shines with sharp intelligence and sensitivity and deep understanding of the time and space, and human condition. Monk’s music was a complete and authentic language. Graphic novel Small Hands is not at all a Monk’s biography but an attempt to tell the story through the use of syncopation, silence, different time levels, bending the traditional narrative line. 

06
In 2001, you made the art work for Corinthian-Death in Venice published by DC Comics/Vertigo, USA , written by Darko Macan, that was a spin off of Neil Gaiman's Sandman
How did you feel drawing this fascinating character from Sandman's universe? 


Corinthian is one of the darkest Sandman characters, and Macan did great job creating the story set in Venice and exploiting the ambiguity of Corinthian. And Venice, as an old fascinating sinking metropolis was a perfect background for his diabolical decadence.

07
In the same year you also did artwork for EL DIABLO, written by Brian Azzarello, DC Comics/Vertigo, USA, 2001.
What can you tell us about this work.


El Diablo is still one of my favorite graphic novels. It is a traditional western story with a modern twist and Azzarello made a powerful remake of an old DC character which he resurrected in his very own original way. Azzarello is always fresh, provocative and smart, and one of the greatest dialogue writers in today’s literature.


08
In 2015, you started working for Image Comics in a series called Starve with American Writer Brian Wood. What made you do this series with Brian



Brian Wood and I wanted to do an original series for a long time, and as Brian sent me few proposals the one I liked the most was the story about a desperate, wild, aging, self-distructive chef Gavin Cruikshank.
So we started a 10-episode series Starve. Story also explores the excessive power of the modern media, the collapsing social structure, vulgarity of reality television and social media, all of it mixed with some extreme cooking. 
It’s been a long journey (212 pages) but I’m really proud of the final result and I hope it will get published in countries besides USA.


09
Industrial, Babylon and your version of french Writer Charles Perrault "Red Riding Hood" are masterpieces in my opinion and were published in Italy, France and Croatia from 2012 to 2015. 
The silence in it is a scream. How was it for you working in these graphic novels? 




Industrial, Babylon and The Red Riding Hood (entitled The Forest) are all wordless graphic novels. 
In part they are a homage to the tradition of wordless graphic novel which started with authors like Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward in 1920-is. 
But it was my desire to tell stories without words that triggered work on those books. 
I do find combination of words and images fascinating, but the absence of words opens up another dimension of storytelling, the focus on the visuals creates an unique rhythm of the storytelling. 
These books are a sort of a trilogy, connected with the absence of text but mainly with the exploration of individual destinies in the post-industrial world.
Red Riding Hood is one of the oldest european folk stories and Charles Perrault just copied it and polished it to make it nicer and more acceptable to moral standards of the time. However, the story is deeply embedded into the texture of western culture and morality (as every myth is) and I always wanted to do my own interpretation of it.

10
You also did several animations from 2010 to 2015. 
What's the difference in your opinion creating something in movement like they're compared to a graphic novel that is a static artform? 


I did four short animation movies so far and right now i’m working on the fifth one. Big inspiration for me were animations by William Kentridge and seeing them triggered an impulse to try to create a story in a similar technique. 
So far I experimented with a couple of animation techniques but in every case the difference from the graphic novel’s narrative language is big because animation uses time as a primary element of storytelling, as well as the movement and sound. The creative process it’s long and it requires huge amount of patience and concentration, and I find it way too slow and tedious. But when successful, the final impact is immense.


11
In 2009, you did artwork for Luna Park with Writer Kevin Baker that's was published by DC Vertigo and will be published later this year In Portuguese.
What can portuguese fans expect from this particular Graphic Novel? 


Readers can expect a dense and multi-layered story, a trip through several cultures and time periods, a contemplation on the continuity of political disasters through the history. As Kevin said at one point, the Luna Park, in part, is about never learning from our mistakes.


12
As an artist and a person, your life seems divided in several countries such as your birth country Croatia, Italy, France and the U.S.A. 
Do you consider yourself not only a Croatian artist but a citizen of the world? 


I never considered myself as only Croatian artist, and I don’t think that creativity and art could or should be confined within the national borders. 
I spent half of my life living in England, Italy and USA, and I owe as much to all those places as I owe to books, paintings, movies, graphic novels, music… that I came across. 
And I owe the most to people and friends I met and worked and lived with. 
There is a common thread connecting all of us humans, and that is not some poetic illusion but a very concrete and necessary connection. We are social animals and the time is what binds us as much as a space. We all share two fundamental facts: love and death. 
Sometimes you turn love into hate but that only means that you are dead before your time is up. But you cannot escape love or death. 


13
What's your vision of comic book artform, do you think that it will collapse with digital comics and all this new technology available In the XXI century? 


It will not collapse. As long as there is one girl or guy creating a good graphic novel it will not collapse. 
Nothing good dies. 


14
Can you tell us about future projects that you're working on? 


Right now I’m working on a 10-minute animation movie based on the story of my latest graphic novel The Forest (The Red Riding Hood). I have to finish it by September. 
There are also two graphic novels I’m preparing, one based on a short movie script entitled The Fagots, and the other would be a wordless graphic novel based on Kafka
There are also few upcoming Live Painting + Live Music performances in Italy and an exhibition in Bruxelles.

Sequential love story/arts project - Part 77 - International artists

  With Janina   Janina along an Hellblazer page written by English writer Jamie Delano and drawn by English artist Dave McKean   Janina Ba...