Frygtløse Inklusionsambassadører, Mosdal/FZA i slackersøgelyset

comics and cartooning, hype & linkage, pictorial arts

inklusion.jpg
Ja, det har været lidt småt med opdateringerne her på det sidste — det er jul, og livet går sin gang. Men jeg tænkte jeg i det mindste ville råbe lidt op om nogle kunstnere Bunkeren digger. Det drejer sig om Ingen Frygt, der under en ceremoni anført af Kronprinsesse Mary i sidste uge blev udnævnt til såkaldte ‘Inklusionsambassadører’ v. Institut for Menneskerettigheder (billede ovenfor). Tillykke, gurls — det lyder som (og er måske) en gimmick, men forpligter alligevel her i Fladskærmsdanmark! (Check Ingen Frygts nyligt omkalfatrede site her).

Og så har Søren Mosdal og Jacob “FZA” Ørsted som måske bekendt udsendt en ny tegneserie, CPH Rockworld, for ikke alt for lang tid siden. Jeg har desværre endnu ikke set den, men det lader til at være et underholdende stykke slackersatire. Serien er nu nået så langt omkring, at selveste Thurston Moore fra Sonic Youth for nyligt omtalte den i kvalitetsgratisavisen Arthur Magazine. Tillykke dawgs — må se at få læst serien (kan bestilles her, og Ørsted blogger i øvrigt her).

Konrad Oberhuber RIP

articles and essays, pictorial arts

oberhuber.jpgI’ve only just now been made aware that the great Renaissance scholar Konrad Oberhuber passed away on September 12, aged 72. I never had the pleasure of meeting the by all accounts charismatic and gregarious scholar, but have found great inspiration — and also at times frustration — in his work. It’s sad to see him go so relatively early, and — paranthetically as well as selfishly — to know that now I’ll never get the chance to discuss Venetian drawings with him.

Born in Linz, Austria, Oberhuber studied the history of art, archaeology, psychology and philosophy at the University of Vienna, earning his doctorate in 1959. He worked for a decade at the Albertina after which he spent a number of years as a curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. In 1975, he became curator of prints and drawings and professor of fine arts at Harvard. He left in 1987 to return to the Albertina as its director, a post he held until his retirement in 2000. The last years of his life were spent in California. He was by all accounts an inspiring teacher and has clearly been a great influence to the considerable number of his former students now in top positions in the art world.

His greatest, and concomitantly most problematic scholarly contribution to his field is surely his large body of work on Raphael, especially on his drawings. His long list of publications on the master from Urbino of the 60s and 70s, culminating in the 1983 monograph Raphael — Die Zeichnungen, which he co-authored and clearly dominated, has been seminal; an invaluable expansion upon the foundational work by Pouncey and Gere of the early 60s. This work however led him to a considerable muddying of the waters in subsequent publications, giving to Raphael a large number of drawings previously attributed to his assistants, eventually bloating the oeuvre into the vastly expanded corpus of the 1999 exhibition catalogue Roma e lo stilo classico di Raffaello.

Steffen Maarup = Christopher Reeve

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism

Christopher Reeve Steffen Maarup
Kan DU se ligheden mellem Christopher Reeve (som set i James Ivorys nyklassiker Remains of the Day (1993)) og Aben Malers egen Steffen Maarup? Ikke? Så gør følgende:

1) Læs dette. Læs det hele (i skrivende stund to sider). Det tager 5-6 minutter.

2) Se dette. Og lyt til det hele. Det tager 5-6 minutter (men de 4-5 første minutter er de vigtigste, resten er bare fuldfed filmklassicisme).

Nu kan du se ligheden. Ellers trænger du godt nok til briller.

(For en god ordens skyld gøres der hermed opmærksom på, at polemikkens sigte er de holdninger og værdier, der knytter sig til hr. Maarups diskussionspartnere. Denne iagttager deler i øvrigt hr. Maarups perspektiver, men afventer stadig tegneseriefestivalen Komiks.dk’s endelige program med visse forventninger.)

RIP Pimp C

journal, music

pimp_c.jpgWhere I been these last few days? Texas hip hop veteran Pimp C, real name Chad Butler, passed away from unknown causes on Tuesday, and I just want to take the time out here to pay my respects. Though I have never been a huge fan of UGK’s, I have been digging them on-off since they had a “Pocketful of Stonez” back in 1992. Though an entertaining MC, Pimp C’s greatest contribution to the music was as a producer where he has been seminally influential, helping define what is today the Dirty South sound and surely an important influence on the greatest producers of that region, Organized Noize. Back on the streets after a 4-year prison term, Pimp C and UGK partner Bun B released the the critically-acclaimed album UGK (Underground Kingz) earlier this year.

Read Tom Breihan’s fine obituary, go check this compilation of obscure Pimp C-features, and read more from MissInfo here and here (she also supplied the photo).

Suddenly, and kinda appropriately, the catchy “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)” off the UGK album seems a rather melancholy tune.

Heavy Rotation: DSCM 2005

journal, music

dscm2005_rootsman.jpg
Som et supplement til lyden fra det relativt nyligt afholdte Danske SoundClash-Mesterskab 2007, som jeg linkede til i forrige uge, vil jeg lige gøre opmærksom på, at der ligger lignende optagelser fra det første danske Soundclash tilbage i 2005, hvor People’s Choice tog titlen fra Rootsman Hi-Fi pga. af en fumlefejl fra sidstnævnte i finalerunden. Det er på visse måder et endnu federe soundclash end det seneste, hvor især de to finalister præsenterer helstøbte sets. Check også denne videoreportage fra DSCM 2007, og undertegnedes billeder fra DSCM 2005.

For more Danish Soundclash goodness, go download these recordings from the first Danish Soundclash Championship back in 2005.

Image of 2/3 of Rootsman Hi-Fi; Mical Cold Ranks & Marni-Mand.

Carlsen overtager Mangismos udgivelser

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism


Det er nu officielt: Carlsen overtager det konkursramte forlag Mangismos udgivelser på det danske marked. En pressemeddelelse er dukket op ovre på Seriejournalen; den forklarer:

“Forlaget Carlsen overtager og viderefører alle Mangismos mangaserier med undtagelse af Gravitation og BASARA. Mangismo skulle i dette halvår have udgivet et eller flere bind i serierne KARE First Love, Samurai Deeper KYO, Vampire Game, I.N.V.U., Chrono Crusade, Full Metal Panic! og Hellsing. Carlsen føjede selv endnu en titel til deres manga-sortiment i november, nemlig serien Chobits.”

Fint at konstatere, at de fleste af serierne føres videre, men også bekymrende, at Carlsen nu er den eneste udgiver af asiatiske tegneserier i Danmark. Med sammenlægningen af Egmont og Bonnier/Carlsen administreres førstnævntes noget ynkelige mangaportefølje nu også fra Pilestræde. Ærgerligt at konstatere, at et energisk og ambitiøst foretagende som Mangismo ikke kunne klare vilkårene på de, trods mangaens forfriskende succes de seneste år, små og lunefulde skandinaviske markeder. Carlsen leverer ekspertise og kvalitet, men det er unægtelig problematisk at de nu på dette væsentlige område er de eneste.

Heavy Rotation: DJ Vadim & Friends

journal, music

one_self_2.jpgBeen peeping the podcasts of Ninja Tune stalwart and beatmaker extraordinaire DJ Vadim these last few days. Go check it out — the mixes are great, and so is the soundclash with beat maestro DJ Krush, and the Soundcatcher release party concert. Also, be sure to cop both last year’s One Self album, Children of Possibility, and this year’s Soundcatcher. They’re both top notch positive hip hop with a conscious edge.