Third Crepax Tribute limited booklets with help by international artists and new upcoming projects

Lost in the most beautiful city in the world?

I never know who I am or what I do in my professional life.

My friend and magnificient Finnish artist Terhi Ekebom gave me an advice to create an heteronyme while writing narratives, so my name is Mauno and I am a fisherman somewhere in Europe navigating seas in a small boat, living in a tiny house without internet with the company of some kitties, listening to wolves outside it.

 Perhaps I am not a fisherman and I am a guy named Manuel that was born in Porto, but Terhi knows life better than me because she is one of the best artists that I know of, a brave and lovely woman and I trust her and love her as the magnificent human being that she is.

My youngest niece Leticia in leisure time

I never know what I can write in narratives since they all are synched in my brain, heart and soul, so sometimes I ask to my youngest niece Letícia for advices on how to write narratives and she tells me that they are easy to write and I trust a lot in her, when she is in my company,  she picks up my cellphone and starts sending pictures of her to all my contacts and I truly believe that she knows how to communicate as a child to everybody because she cant conceive in her mind what is the worth of social networks and neither do I.

 I clearly know that I love people and international  artists in my heart and soul and I am not interested in having tons of "likes" at social networks because it is easy to press a button in a cellphone or a PC, but it isn't easy trying to reach to people s minds, memories, heart or soul.    

With one of my little cousins playing hide and seek 

Writing and organizing ideas in my mind, heart or soul sometimes is a bit crazy, since I lose myself a lot in the company of my nieces or cousins while playing with them in my leisure time.

A professional card with design by Argentine Artist MR Ed, a pen, a pencil and number 7 

Trying to figure out what a professional card is as consultant editor of Fantagraphics books publishing company based in Seattle - U.S.A is tricky since I clearly know the work that I have done with this company and the one that I am doing with the people there (mainly its owner Gary Groth) , be it Crepax book collection, Alberto Breccia book collection (that will be a reality in some months). I don't know or care about foreign lousy book collections whose rights were sold to other publishers all over the world since I am not a part of this busyness that clearly bores me a bit and that deals with numbers. Part of my job is to give advices to Fantagraphics or other publishers to publish excellent book editions of some artists that I love in order to be able to see them in book stands all over the world, clearly knowing my position at this publishing company and that I am not  Fantagraphics exclusive because I work for other publishers also.    

Monologue with a statue   

Everybody that communicates with me, be it online or personally knows that they aren't communicating with a statue and I also communicate with them in this exact same way, but I love to communicate with trees, birds, cats and even statues when I am alone.  

Lost in a labyrinth 

Several times, it seems that I am in a maze, be it at my professional or personal life and I continue to live it and forgetting about this sort of maze in my head, so I wander several streets in Europe knowing that a simple maze can be an easy way for people to enjoy themselves, because life is a maze and always will be.

       

My youngest niece Leticia and myself drawn and printed in paper by Japanese Artist John Kurokawa

International artists such as John Kurokawa that is Japanese know the bound that I have with my nieces so he created an artwork based on my youngest niece Letícia in my company. 

A vampire drawn printed in paper by Japanese Artist John Kurokawa

A ghost drawn printed in paper by Japanese Artist John Kurokawa

I also know that I am a simple vampire or a ghost who writes some narratives, curate exhibitions all over the world with help by international artists in this blogue/concept, that I try to share with international artists and I think that John Kurokawa and all artists that I work with know about this.   

Pic samples of movies that I love randomly organized in a coffeeshop table 

such as 2046 by Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, Trust by American director Hal Hartley, Mirror by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, Vertical Ray of The Sun by Vietnamese director Tran Ahn Hung, 8 and a half by Italian director Federico Fellini and sample artworks by Finnish artist Terhi Ekebom and Spanish artist Eduardo Alvarado Sánchez-Cortés

      

Pic samples of movies that I love organized in a blank page such as 2046 by Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, Trust by American director Hal Hartley, Mirror by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, Vertical Ray of The Sun by Vietnamese director Tran Ahn Hung, 8 and a half by Italian director Federico Fellini and sample artworks by Finnish artist Terhi Ekebom and Spanish artist Eduardo Alvarado Sánchez-Cortés

I love movies, TV series, books, music, artworks and soccer and I try to get inspired in these interests of mine while organizing things in my head.

 2046 is a movie that tell us about a writer that believes in love and a number of a room.

 Trust is a movie that tell us about what is trust in a relationship with love and life.

 Mirror is a movie that tell us about where our memories stand.

 Vertical Ray of The Sun is a movie that tell us about a family concept.

 8 and an half is a fictional film based on life, its memories and in what we can achieve with them.

 I have tried to gather all these movies in my heart and soul (randomly or organized) to try to figure out how I am going to turn several projects that I have in mind into reality, be them book anthologies, shows, personal books, all this with help by international artists. 

 I love brave and lovely women and Spanish artist Eduardo Alvarado Sanchez Cortez knows how to draw them, so I have asked him to print some women that he drew.

 Terhi Ekebom knows that I love her work, so I have thought that a fascinating isolated house that she created as an artwork would be perfect for this narrative.   

  

With third Crepax tribute limited booklets organized by myself and published by Fantagraphics, a framed artwork based on myself and a kitty that I used to have drawn by Spanish artist Jon Ander Azaola and another framed artwork with a sketch study of Valentina by Spanish artist Santiago Sequeiros 

Crepax limited booklet cover organized by myself with help by international artists and published by Fantagraphics

Published tributes to Valentina by Argentine artist Patricia Breccia and American artist Bill Koeb  

Published tributes to Valentina by American artist David Lasky and Japanese artist John Kurokawa

Published tributes to Valentina by American artist Brian Biggs and Italian artist Caterina Crepax

Published tributes to Valentina by American artist Olivia de Berardinis and Brazilian artist Rodrigo Rosa

Published tributes to Valentina by Spanish artists Pedro Espinosa and José Luis Ágreda 

Published tributes to Valentina by American artist Jeffrey Alan Love and Spanish artist Fidel Martinez Nadal

Published bios of the artists in this third Crepax limited booklet  

Published tribute to Valentina by American artist Sam Henderson

Being myself involved with more than 150 international artists (whose artworks I love) knowing that I must somehow publish their artworks makes my head spin several times per day, because it isn't easy trying to organize all the works that some of the best international artists sent me for several personal projects that I have or had in my mind.

 Tributes to valentina by Italian maestro Guido Crepax is one of them that I will continue developing in my mind and it is a project that I am proud of since it basically deals with a confused man as Crepax (that was a genius) putting his personal life in paper while talking to a fictional character that he created in his mind and gave it a life of its own by drawing her in an unique way.   

Trying to organize all my work in my mind

Below I will post a music video named "Analyze"by British musician Thom Yorke and its lyrics that tells a bit of my state of spirit right now. 

      

A self-fulfilling prophecy of endless possibility
You're born and raised across the street
In algebra, in algebra

The fences that you cannot climb
The sentences that do not rhyme
In all that you can ever change
The one you're looking for

It gets you down
It gets you down

There's no spark
No light in the dark

It gets you down
It gets you down
You travel far
What have you found
That there's no time
There's no time
To analyze
To think things through
To make sense

Like cows in the city
They never looked so pretty
Bad power cuts and blackouts
Sleeping like babies

It gets you down
It gets you down
You're just playing a part
You're just playing a part

You're playing a part
Playing a part
That there's no time
There's no time
To analyze
Analyze
Analyze

Special thanks to all international artists that also are awesome human beings, my family and to common people with awesome souls that help me every single day while I am developing new ideas for my job.

Manuel Espirito Santo