Max Andersson at Beja - comic book festival - 25,26 & 27 May - 2018

Sometimes I hate comic books, other times I love them (depending on my mood and some comic book that triggers my passion once again with them).

 "The Excavation" by genius Swedish Artist Max Andersson was this book in the last 15 years or even more (It's a fact that time flies and we get older).

 I remember that when I've started communicating with Max and Gary Groth about this book, he was telling me to see his animations also (which I did) and I've loved them.

 Later Max entered in some exhibitions that I've organized with Invicta Indie Arts concept with help by several international artists.

 Max is one of my favourite artists ever since I've read his masterpiece "Pixy" or his short stories at "Zero Zero" comic book issues in the nineties, so I also thought on trying to be physically with him somewhere in Europe (when he told me that this was a cool idea, I grabbed a phone and talked with my friend Paulo Monteiro and he told me to invite him to Beja, which I actually did).

 So, Max Andersson will be in a comic book festival in Beja in his European tour with an awesome exhibition, selling and promoting his work and I'll try to be his host there with a live talk to an audience with him and me.

 Will we talk about comic books?

 Will we talk about arts?

 Will we pass Max's short animations movies in the conversation?

 Will we talk about the weather?

 Will I pay a beer to Max or will he pay me?

 I really don't have answers for these questions since me and Max will improvise something for sure.

Maybe in the middle of the conversation he'll tell me that I'm a carboy and I'll gladly acept the role of being this character that can be seen below in a pic with it among a maths notebook, a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles and another notebook with an illustrated cover of an image of canned sardines

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I know that Max Andersson's masterpiece "Pixy" will also be there among the same objects that I've mentioned before in the pic below.

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I've told people that Max would do an European tour to show his recent masterpiece "The Excavation" but nobody believed in me and I was a bit sad, but in the picture bellow we can actually see a Max Andersson Spring tour poster all over Europe being Beja, the end of it.

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I'm sure that me and Max will talk a lot about carboy characters (or maybe we'll not, I really don't know this).

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- Will Max and me talk about carboy characters and his short stories or not? 

While seeing the picture bellow with a print of one, I'm sure that we'll (will we Max? I need help)

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Maybe we'll talk about life and how funny it is like we can also see in a Max's print artwork in the picture bellow.

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Maybe we'll talk about cigarettes and candy 

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Maybe we'll talk about Fantagraphics as a worldwide book publisher.

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I'll be physically there with a simple concept while talking with Max or seeing his awesome artworks like can be seen in the picture bellow.

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- Will I wear a personalized Max Andersson t-shirt or a Lars Erik Sjunesson one with Ake Ordur character while talking with Max at Beja?  

 The picture below proves that I've at least one t-shirt with a Max Andersson's artwork.

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Will I ask Max to sign me books or draw some sketches in paper?

(I'm sure that Max already signed and drew some sketches in comic books for myself)

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- Will Swedish artist Lars Erik Sjunesson be there in ethereal form thinking that me and Max are Bosnian Flat Dogs?

He and Max actually drew a copy of this book as a team for me.

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- Will I or Max be in a kafkaesque state of mind at Beja? 

Below is a Kafka quote that I love.

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Will we talk about movies and nostalgia?

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- Will British writer George Orwell's character named Big Brother from his masterpiece "1984" be watching us?

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What I know is that I don't have answers regarding Max Andersson's schedule in Beja, but everybody should relax a bit there and appreciate Max Andersson's presence, buy his latest masterpiece "The Excavation" or his other books and enjoy an exhibition with originals by one of the best comic book artists ever.

Being a carboy character with pride, hoping that everybody can catch Max Andersson's artwork everywhere.

Manuel Espírito Santo

Info with a narrative about Zombierella's project and others with help by international artists

Several times I lose myself in endless stories that are on my mind, soul and spirit while walking in cities in old Europe. 
Writing a narrative about a complex character as Zombierella that is not only a character but also an excellent musician and a nice/pretty 21st century woman that loves ghoulish creatures that lurk in the dark while loving also the sun and the light that it provides, makes me wonder about society and how we lose ourselves in it. In a world that's constantly changing in nano seconds due to the virtual life that we human beings have, I've always thought that the best way to put a narrative in motion is with words or printed images with artworks by some of the best international artists that I know of in order to solve some sort of puzzle about who we're in this blue planet called Earth. It's a fact that Svetlana Zombierella Nagaeva was born in Saint Petersburg in Russia and that she is part again of rockabilly/surf music band Messer Chups like can actually be seen in posters bellow with date tours of this same band.

Messer chups - tour posters with Zombierella 

It's also a fact that I was born in the prettiest city in the world always in a road to everywhere.

I'm a bit confused on what to write in this post regarding a possible book project with help by international artists that drew or that are drawing Zombierella's character like Brazilian artist Fabio Vermelho artwork based on her that can be seen bellow in a printed picture.

Zombierella tribute by Brazilian artist Fabio Vermelho  

There's only one thing that I know about this project, that's the fact that this project started at Invicta with printed images/collages of Zombierella's and myself trying to write something about her character as the excellent musician that she's and a beautiful 21st century woman with help by several international artists who worked with me in the past or are working with me in present time in other projects that I'm also trying to develop being this project spread in several countries in the world.

A simple guy

Being a bit lost in this project actually makes my mind work faster because I always believed that women are source of life, that they are completely different from men and this makes all the difference in a world filled with images. I've thought on taking pics to simple things in life concerning some sort of narrative for this project because writing one is not as easy as people think. 

Printed artwork by Brazilian artist Fabio Vermelho based on Zombierella's, a pic with words and sayings in a simple coffeeshop, a statue with a female angel, an artwork with a woman daydreaming with fishes by Polish artist Ania Walus, myself wearing a personalized t-shirt with an excellent artwork based on women by extraordinary Canadian artist Dave Cooper, an orange lighter and a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles.

I'm only a guy who loves arts and artworks and how women appear on them, always daydreaming about life, like can be seen in the picture bellow taken by my friend and awesome photographer Alex Korolkovas that was born in Brazil.

Sometimes while being lost in translation or in comunication with my friend and excellent musician Svetlana, I try to talk with statues searching for some inspiration to write about this same project as can be seen bellow.

Angels that guide me  

Other times I see magnificient artworks that show me the inner beauty of women like the one posted bellow by excellent Spanish artist Daniel Esteve and I think this towards myself: "Should I write in this project about Zombierella's character or the role that women always played in society since the existence of human beings in this planet?"

A simple woman by Spanish artist Daniel Esteve  

While I'm lost in thoughts regarding this project or others, I comunicate with international artists like my Swedish friend and excellent artist Lars Erik Sjunesson that drew me as a man taking pics in a picture booth as can be seen bellow.

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While I daydream in this project, I gaze towards masterpieces with women observing society in buildings like the picture posted bellow by my friend and magnificient Brazilian photographer Alex Korolkovas with a 21st century women.

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Continuing to try to make sense in a narrative as a man and a character in it, I also observe lovely artworks inspired in men or characters by Danish artist Henrik Kim Rehr, Spanish artist Miguel Almagro, Swedish artist Max Andersson while wearing a Personalized t-shirt by this same artist with a character named Carboy in a street in Europe where lions stand still as can be seen below.

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Women always were a fascinating subject to write about and when I see their complexity in life shown in arts like the bellow picture by Brazilian photographer Alex Korolkovas, I do try to imagine some words as inspiration for this project just because women always were and always will be the strongest link in society's past, present or future.

I know that I believe in nature and that I love books, Portuguese tiles, personalized t-shirts by some of the best international artists that I know of and while trying to figure out words or ideas for this project, I do try to figure the purpose of an artwork based on women by extraordinary Canadian artist Dave Cooper because it will make part of a bit of my essence by wearing it in a personal t-shirt as can be seen bellow in a pic.

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Loving nature and women is the best way to have our memories back because I always loved cats as pets and a living being and in my mind while writing this sort of narrative, I was framing not only women in artworks but also cats in arts like in the bellow picture with artworks based on women by Canadian artist Dave Cooper and an artwork based on cats as pets by excellent Argentine artist Patricia Breccia.

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I truly believe that pictures can inspire words in a simple text. I love faeries, myths, cards that tell us a bit about who we'll be and simple notebooks to be written with or without a picture of one of the best writers ever that is Fernando Pessoa and that was born in the same country as myself and truly knew a lot about words, life and even world mythology.

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While writing these words, a woman that appeared as a character in my life provided me a message about a mime that can be seen and read below.

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Music always has an important role in this narrative and when played by a woman, as can be seen in the picture below, its importance is even bigger because this is a narrative about a character that's a musician while being a 21st century woman.

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I only know that in some magical garden, I'll believe in this project, trying to sync it with other projects that I'm trying to develop with help by several international artists, with or without personalized t-shirts like the one that can be seen in the picture bellow by Argentine Artist Mr Ed based on myself as a character and world wide exhibitions curator.

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This is a narrative about a musician/character/21st century woman that started with a simple pic of her in the prettiest city in the whole word and since I love music and messages in them, I've thought on putting in this post a translated lyrics in English and its "hidden" message in an awesome song by Portuguese band Mão Morta named "Anarquista Duval" that give us a short story about a word called "FREEDOM" declared by a man that lived in this world in the 19th and 20th Century named Clément Duval.

 Duval was a man that was born in 1850 and that his own ideas concerning individual reclamation were greatly influential in later shaping illegalism. In a printed letter in November 1886 issue of the anarchist paper "Le Révolté", Duval famously declared: "Theft is but restitution carried out by an individual to his own benefit, being conscious of another's undue monopolization of wealth." 

 This band set some standards in my teenage years and in other men and women that listened to it also and that were born in Portugal, while thinking on what society was then and what's society now, either with words or with songs in Portuguese, being the origins of this band in Braga (that is a Portuguese city in the north where catholicism always ruled in Portuguese society) and being their leader Adolfo Luxúria Canibal a musician/performer and a lawyer at the time and in the same body makes this mix an explosive cocktail.

Below is a pic of an autobiographic book by Clément Duval and the lyrics/message for this song in English, because being Portuguese is being a bit anarchist since in world history we're known as a land of sailors and poets.

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"Along a road a man was walking, he was covered in night shadows.
Someone asked him his name.
He replied:
- I'm a ghost, they say that I seed chaos and destruction like the wind seeds poppy.
- My name is... freedom.
In that same road walked FREEDOM also  covered in night shadows.
Freedom questioned a lamplight:
- Do you know who I am?
The lamplight replied:
- You're only a vision and you belong to a huge book based on life written by those who provoke that also are known as poets with souls that dream.
A policeman said to the man that was an Anarchist named Clément Duval:
"Are you Anarchist Duval? I'm arresting you on suspicion based in our law and order.'
Clément Duval replied:
"And I suppress you with the word "freedom"."
These two men who caused this scenario walked in the same road.
In that night all that was left was the lamplight that was covered in shadows." 

I've also thought on putting here another  translation from a Portuguese song into English by a 21st Century Danish woman (that's a Viking descendant) named Isabel Berg and that told me that I'm an Atlantis descendant by Portuguese band Xutos & Pontapés named "O homem do Leme" that tells us a short story of a Portuguese helmsman (because Portuguese people always were sailors).

 I know that being born in a small town named Porto sometimes is a problem. Invicta citizens must fight and sail a lot to be recognized all over the world, maybe this is due to the fact that we only have borders with Spain and the Ocean.

 It's good knowing my origins and how people from Porto fought hard in the past and fight harder in the present. 

 Below is a picture of a statue of an helmsman that actually exist in the prettiest city in the world and the translated song by Isabel Berg into English.  

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- From the land of Poets and Atlantis descendants.
"Helmsman"
"Alone in the night
A boat roams, where does it goes?
A light in the dark shines ahead
Obfuscates the rest.
And more than one wave, more than one tide.
They tried to arrest him impose him a faith.
But, destroying his kindness and his free will, breaking his longing (=saudade).
Sails the one who fears nothing, sails the helmsman.
And a will to smile, is born inside his inner self.
And a will to sail all over the world and depart his country.
Life always is a losing game.
In the bottom of the sea
Lie the others, the ones who stayed there
In the darkest day,
they found eternal rest there
And more than one wave, more than one tide
They tried to arrest him impose him a faith
But, sailing with kindness, without his inner  longing (=saudade)
Sails the one who fears nothing, sails the helmsman.
And a will to smile, is born from the bottom of his inner self.
And a will to sail all over the world and depart his country.
Life always is a losing game.
In the bottom of the sea
A whisper is blown, where does it goes?
Without time by his side
He feels his future gone while saying to himself:
- it's too late!!!
And a will to smile, is born inside his inner self.
And a will to sail the world and depart his country.
Life always is a losing game."

Many thanks to all international artists who believe in this and other projects that I try to develop with artworks, words and simple pics.

Special thanks to my friend Svetlana Zombierella Nagaeva that sometimes let me "dive" a bit in her character as the excellent musician and 21st century that she is.

20th May 2018 

Manuel Espírito Santo

Narrative and book project about Zombierella as a musician/character and 21st century woman

Trying to work on a book project with my friend and excellent musician character is easy, because she's an awesome woman with a gentle soul.

Organizing artworks with international artists help is a cool thing, because artists know more about life than I do.

Zombierella is again a band member of Messer Chups and this is amazing because the visual and sound aesthetics of the band fits nicely with her character that's Zombierella.

I'm trying to do a sort of a jigsaw puzzle in this project with help by printed images to tell a narrative with words.

I know that poetry sometimes it's pagan others it has feelings, so it was a good idea (in my mind and spirit) to search for inspiration in a Dead Can Dance song, an U2 one also while thinking on mixing on this narrative Tv Series Westworld (that question our feelings in an emotional way in life) and Westworld (that makes us question who we're in this digital world where we live in while searching for our memories in a quest for our own identity).

It's hard writing about a 21st century woman, a character, that's also an excellent musician, so I've decided to use a simple physical pen and a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles, because I was born in the prettiest city in the world that's invicta and where this project started in my mind with a Zombierella picture in the main street of it as seen bellow.

Zombie at Invicta 

Sometimes as a woman with a gentle soul Svetlana is a bit lost and I listen to her voice in my mind telling me this in the picture below:

- Am I Svetlana?

- Was I born in Saint Petersburg?

- Am I Zombierella?

- Can I stare at some pictures in a book?

- Can I be a police woman?

- Must I always be with chupacabra?

- What am I doing with skulls while staring at a simple camera?

- Am I asking you to enter into my world?

- Am I a 21st century woman such as Finnish artist Terhi Ekebom that gives heteronyms to people while being in an Aki Kaurismaki movie named "the man without a past"?

Being in 1994, I've searched for some meaning for this project with an image and a sentence such as "some lack of understanding" in a song named "I can see now" by Australian band Dead Can Dance that was released and worlwide distributed in this same year in an album that told us that we as human living beings could go "towards the within" in this life.

Being also a bit lost since 2013 until today, I've searched for inspiration in images and sentences from Peaky Blinders TV Series such as "You're mine. I am yours", "the only one.", There's no chance" or images and sentences by Irish band U2 in a song named "The fly" from their Zoo Tv tour from 1984 where we could read these words "everything you know is wrong" and "be gentle with me" can be read in the below published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Still in 1994, I've once again searched for some meaning for this project with an image and a sentence like "and nothing to prove" in the same song named "I can see now" by Australian band Dead Can Dance that was released and worlwide distributed in this same year in an album that told us that we as human living beings could go "towards the within" in this life.

Being also a bit lost since 2013 until today, I've searched for inspiration in images and sentences from Peaky Blinders TV Series such as "I've learned something in the last few days", "Those" "Are worse than us", "boys, it's us", "Have we lost a fight yet, have we? no", "and they will never admit us to their palaces" "because of who we're" and all these images and words can be seen in the bellow published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Being still in 1994, I've once again searched for some meaning for this project with an image and a sentence like "in the thoughts that consumes you through your life" in the same song named "I can see now" by Australian band Dead Can Dance that was released and worlwide distributed in this same year in an album that told us that we as human living beings could go "towards the within" in this life.

Being also a bit lost since 2013 until today, I've searched for inspiration in images and sentences from Peaky Blinders TV Series such as "the clock is ticking", "Just get this business done" "everybody here, they want you to win this battle", "I remember everything", "and I forget nothing", "you like to play with fire", "you get away from things like this","your mother said" "his cleverness will kill him" and all these images and words can be seen in the bellow published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Still standing in 1994, I've once again searched for some meaning for this project with an image and a sentence like "than a man with nothing to lose" in the same song named "I can see now" by Australian band Dead Can Dance that was released and worlwide distributed in this same year in an album that told us that we as human living beings could go "towards the within" in this life.

Being also a bit lost since 2013 until today, I've searched for inspiration in images and sentences from Peaky Blinders TV Series such as "you do as we say", "and this is our city" "you forget", "I've my family", "for me family is my strenght", "and they go after it", "family is a weakness" and all these images and words can be seen in the bellow published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Thinking on human mind, body and soul as a living being, I try to display some printed Zombierella's pictures for this project along some Westworld Tv Series quotes that I was thinking on some simple weeks ago in a pure morning and all these images and words can be seen in the bellow published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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 While thinking on this team project where Zombierella is a character/21st century woman, I have used Westworld Tv Series quotes by the three main characters in it, starting first by Dolores: "Some people choose to see the uglyness in this world", "the disarray", "I choose to see the beauty", "I think that must be something wrong with this world", "either that or there's something wrong with me", "you said... People came here to change the story of their lives", "I've imagined a story where I didn't have to be the damsel", continuing with Dr Robert Ford ones: "Evolution forged the entirety of sentient life on this planet using only one tool... The mistake", "Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin never died. They simply became music.", "

You can't play God without being acquainted with the devil." and sending with Bernard Lowe: "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?"

and all these images and words can be seen in the below published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Printed glued artworks by international artists based on Zombierella's character by Spanish artist Ruben Pellejero, French artists Beuh and Isabel Pessoa, Turkish artist Ayse Maktas, Japanese Artists John Kurokawa and Garbage which burns, Danish Artist Henrik Kim Rehr, Polish Artist Bartosz Jekiel, Jordanian Artist Mike V. Derderian, Russian Artist Sasha Larenkov and Indonesian artist Rico Irdam Ardiansyah and all these images and words can be seen in the below published image with a cigarette box with Portuguese tiles in it.

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Printed artworks by international artists 

with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character by Polish Artist Bartosz Jekiel, Japanese Artist John Kurokawa, French artist Isabel Pessoa and Belgium artist Christophe Swijsen and all that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a statue based on a naked woman that was real and used to live in Porto.

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Printed artworks by international artists  

with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character by Polish Artist Bartosz Jekiel, Japanese Artist John Kurokawa, French artist Bartosz Jekiel and Danish artist Henrik Kim Rehr and all that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a statue of one of the best Portuguese writer ever named Almeida Garrett and that was born in Porto.

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Printed artworks by international artists  

with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character by Spanish artists Ruben Pellejero and Jon Ander Azaola, Italian artist Stefano Zattera, Catalan artist Toni Benages Gallard, a simple woman by Spanish maestro Eduardo Alvarado Sanchez Cortez and all that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a statue of the founder of Porto's city.

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Printed artwork by Argentine artist Germán Genga with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character and that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a real nice coffeshop in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 01 

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Printed artwork by Serbian artist Branko Djukic with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character and that can be seen in the bellow published image inside invicta's heart at a real nice coffeshop in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 02

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Printed artwork by Polish artist Nikodem Cabala with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character and that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a real nice coffeshop in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 03

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Printed artwork by Polish artist Beuh with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character and that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart near a church in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 04

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Printed artworks by international artists with a sort of movement based on Zombierella's character by Turkish artist Ayse Maktas and Italian artist Stefano Zattera and that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a real nice coffeshop in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 05

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Printed artwork about our inner demons and angels that I've thought to be interesting for this sort of narrative by Argentine artist Dario Mekler and that can be seen in the below published image inside invicta's heart at a real nice coffeshop in Porto's city, where I write and develop projects such as this one - 05

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Hoping that this exhibition book project based on an excellent character/21st century woman as Zombierella is to be as sucessful as the previous exhibitions that I've organized a bit all over the world in the past 2 years and that some turned into books and others that I'll also try to turn into book form in the upcoming future.

Many thanks to all international artists that are supporting this project and that their names or birth countries that are already listed in previous posts in this same blogue with pics of their artworks for this project 

along others that I've organized in the past and that I'm organizing in present time.

Special thanks to my friend/musician that also is a 21st century woman Svetlana Zombierella Nagaeva 

13th May 2018 

Manuel Espírito Santo 

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