April 8, 2011

Fantasías animadas (de ayer y de hoy) de John Chauca Laurente (Galería Yvonne Sanguineti)

Are British writers superior (at least in the comic book industry)? I’m a big fan of late 70’s and early 80’s 2000 AD stuff, and Moore, Morrison, Wagner, Grant, Milligan and the rest of the gang were just brilliant back then. Diet, geography, tradition, history, sociological development, there could be thousands of possible explanations, but British writers seem to be consistently better than American writers.



Sometimes you don’t even know they’re British. That happened to me with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. I remember picking up The Legion # 22, and after a few months I had the entire run, and I kept buying the new issues until the end. I first met the Legion of Super-Heroes through Levitz’s old 80s run, and I loved the idea of the Legion so much that I felt sad after I lost track on it. But I don’t let nostalgia cloud my judgment. Those issues represent good memories, sure. Nevertheless, there is a vast distance separating nostalgia from memories. Memories are good or bad, and that’s it. They hurt us or please us, nothing else. And I believe that we always try to cope with our best memories –a most difficult task–. To remember is something that always depends on our will. Something that is much more linked to the will –will disguised as evocation– that we might consider at first. Once again: memories are good or bad, regular if you wish. The writer can make of them whatever he wants when he creates his masterpiece. Nostalgia, on the contrary, contains the wondrous ability of being totally independent from our will. It is easy, very easy, it is simply a matter of efficient or inefficient memory to remember. It is impossible in contrast to ‘nostalgiate’. Because of the simple reason that there is nothing more independent from our memory than our own nostalgia.


                                                  Cover by Joe Jusko. Full version here:


http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/328/8/9/warlord_of_mars_no__5_by_joejusko-d33jifh.jpg


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El miércoles se inauguró la muestra de John Chauca en la Galería Yvonne Sanguineti. Chauca es un artista que mantiene una línea definida, capaz de preservar celosamente una propuesta personal: él es fiel a sus principios artísticos, y su sensibilidad e ideas se ven ingeniosamente plasmadas en sus cuadros. Ver un cuadro de Chauca significa reconocerlo de inmediato, nadie más trabaja con los pinceles ni con el acrílico de la misma manera que él. Y eso, por sencillo que parezca, la huella del creador, es una de las cosas más difíciles de conseguir.


Además de encontrarme con el artista Roberto Cores, me quedé conversando con Marcos Palacios y Paola Tejada, y al final de la noche, nos fuimos con Chauca, Iván Fernández-Dávila y algunos más al Círculo de Barranco. Allí nos quedamos conversando y tomando hasta tarde, yo fui el primero en retirarme a eso de la una y media de la mañana (para poder llegar a tiempo a mi almuerzo con Brian Power al día siguiente). Conversar con Chauca cara a cara permite corroborar lo que ya sospechaba, se trata de un artista luchador, perseverante, que sería capaz de sobrevivir sin galerías o premios importantes (y vale señalar que él ha empezado a trabajar con galerías de peso hace un par de años y ha ganado premios muy importantes). Y esa fuerza, esa independencia, se nota en su trabajo. Quizá por ello, cada vez con más frecuencia, el éxito empieza a coquetear con él.


http://www.limagris.com/?p=4230

Y finalmente un dibujo mío con estilógrafo:


6 comments:

  1. I feel you on the british writers, man. Hine's my favorite and Peter Milligan has quickly rose up as one of my top favorites also. There's just something about their styles. They have their own but there's still something so distinct that pulls you in and knocks you out to take notice. There are various American writers that do the same, but there's something particular about British writers that my finger can't quite touch on.

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  2. That's the way I think. Isn't it amazing that sometimes we have so much in common? Let's make a toast in honor of the British comic book writers!

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  3. I agree about the awesomeness of the British writers. I think Marvel (and probably DC as well) actively sought Brit writers back in the 70's & 80's. "Marvel UK" had some awesome writers/artists and I think their work on that imprint really paved the way for the Brits to crossover to Marvel's mainstream titles.

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  4. Well said, Pandesal. I was also a fan of the Marvel UK imprint.

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  5. Hi Arion thanks so much for your nice visit, definitely my pleasure and for sure I follow! Also, thanks so much for your kind comment. Your blog is really awesome, I have been reading and as I can see you are a writer. I love writing too but I guess not as good as you when you have out a comic which is one of my dream but no idea how to do that :( Anyway, you mention that you draw with pencil, well me too. I am just learning using photoshop and draw with it. Even though I draw celebrities, my favorite is drawing cartoons, anime, etc.. and by the way, I am not a fan of Jonas Brothers either, lol. Thanks so much and I will keep my eyes on your blog. God Bless You!!

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  6. Well, I'm already following your blog Judy. I'm only one of many contributors in this comic book anthology but thanks for your support. I appreciate it.

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