The highly publicized child pornography conviction last month of a Swedish translator, for possessing manga which allegedly depicted sexualised minors or minors engaging in sexual acts, is but the latest manifestation of a debate concerning what constitutes child pornography that has been going for a number of years. The chairman of the Swedish Comics Society, […]

For those in the Copenhagen-Malmö region, I recommend checking out the exhibition Mutant Pop, now open at the Loyal Gallery in Saltimporten, Malmö. It is curated by Joe Grillo (it’s his work above) and Laura Grant of Dearraindrop and includes work by a host of talented artists, amongst them Mat Brinkman, Brian Chippendale, Ron Regé […]

Over at Hooded Utilitarian, my monthly column this time is an extended piece on the art historical antecedents of cartooning, with special focus on Robert Crumb’s adaptation of Genesis, and with reference to Bruegel and Rembrandt, plus a bonus discussion on the different meaning-making properties of text and image.
I hope you’ll check it out, […]

In the second edition of his great collection of artists’ biographies, Le vite dei piu eccelenti pitturi, scultori ed architettori (1568), the Tuscan painter and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) wrote the following about the significance of drawing:
“Seeing that Design, the parent of our three arts, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, having its origin in the […]

The picks of the week from around the web.
The New Yorker: “The Mark of a Masterpiece”. David Grann talks to and examines the colourful career of Peter Paul Biro, the art forensics man who has participated in the authentication of the pretty, so-called Leonardo drawing that surfaced out of nowhere last year. Pretty amazing reading, […]

Last week, another of the pioneers of early hip hop culture, Rammellzee passed away. A versatile multimedia artist and cultural theorist, he remained at the margins of hip hop culture as it evolved into a worldwide, commercially successful phenomenon, marching to the beat of his own drum.
From hitting the A train is 1974 and bombing […]

The picks of the week from around the web.
Rolling Stone: “The Runaway General”. Without question this week’s most exposed piece of journalism, Michael Hasting’s article on the now deposed Gen. Stanley McCrystal, is well-worth spending time with if you only read the summaries. It does much more than convey the disparaging one-liners that lost him […]

I haven’t talked much about my Ph. D. dissertation, “Colour in Line — Titian and Printmaking”, here at the Bunker, despite it having occupied my life more than any other intellectual project for the last five years or so. I guess because it is still very much a work in progress, but I figure it […]

If you’re in Copenhagen and looking for a way to kick off the night, Gallery V1 opens no less than three exhibitions at once! Some fine artists in there, so do consider it More info here, and these are the invites:

Dagens Weekendavis indeholder bl.a. min anmeldelse af to fine udstillinger af italienske renaissancetegninger i London — den store, man fristes til at sige episke, på British Museum og den lille, udsøgte men desværre nu lukkede Michelangelo-udstilling på Courtauld Gallery. Køb og læs og besøg!
UPDATE: Artiklen ligger nu på Bunkeren i engelsk oversættelse.

J.F. Willumsens Museum har netop udskrevet en stor og ambitiøs tegneseriekonkurrence, der søger en behandling af den danske kunstners liv og værk i tegneserieform.
UPDATE: Museet har netop udskudt deadline til 31. december.

Her er deres (let redigerede) pressemeddelelse:
J.F. WILLUMSEN I STRIBEVIS:
J. F. Willumsens Museum udskrev d. 22. maj 2010 på Komiks.dk en konkurrence for professionelle […]

If you’re looking for something do on Friday night to warm you up for the weekend’s Komiks.dk festival, you could do worse than dropping by Butik CMYK in Nørrebro for the opening of the exhibition Blæk og Blyant (’ink and pencil’), featuring three illustrators: Nygårds Maria Bengtson, Majbrit Linnebjerg and Toril Bækmark (more here). Peter […]

The great fantasy artist Frank Frazetta (1928-2010) died yesterday at the age of 82. Surely the most influential artists within his genre and a significant comics illustrator and cartoonist too, his legacy is apparent everywhere. Basically, fantasy illustration as we know it would be much different if it weren’t for him.
His pen and ink […]

Today I’ve posted my inaugural column–dubbed DWYCK in memory of Guru–over at Hooded Utilitarian, one of the liveliest and highest-falutin’ spots in the comics blogosphere. I’m honoured to be part of the team there, and excited about now being able to express my disagreements with everyone there from the inside, instead of just their bustling […]

My man Lars and co-authors Rasmus and Jacob, are about to drop a brick of Danish graffiti history with the book Will I Go to Hell for This?, which will be on the bookshelves on Monday. A hardcover, 264-page, full colour coffeetable book, available both in Danish and in English, it presents the history of […]