Romanian cartoonist Gheorghita Ghinea - URIASU passed away

Romanian cartoonist Gheorghita Ghinea - URIASU passed away (1956-2008)
The Romanian cartoonist Gheorghita Ghinea - URIASU (the giant) passed away at the age of 52 of heart attack on 28 October 2008. He lived and worked in Plopeni, a city near Ploiesti. He was an excellent press cartoonist and a painter. He published over 7,000 cartoons in several newspapers and magazines and he won many prizes in competitions. In 2008 he was awarded with the Prize for Cartoon of the Romanian Press Club, the biggest recognition of a press cartoonist in the country.
This report by Florian-Doru Crihana fdcrihana@yahoo.com

THE SIMILARITY IN WORLD CARTOONING by VLADIMIR KAZANEVSKY

THE SIMILARITY IN WORLD CARTOONING

by VLADIMIR KAZANEVSKY

"New" cartoons with the dominating of images without support of verbal have arisen in the thirtieth years of the twentieth century in the USA and in France. The founders of "new" cartoons were O. Soglou, S. Steinberg, J.M. Bosc, J.M. Folon.
Worrying signs of deep crisis in the "new" cartoon appeared in recent years. The main feature is the emergence of a large number of cartoons-clones or "secondary" cartoons. There were discussions, which of the "secondary" cartoons can be considered plagiarism, and which simply random coincidence. Plagiarism in the art can take a simple theft. Frequent cases matches are characteristic sign of the crisis in the "new" cartoon.
One indicator of the crisis in the "new" cartoons is discontinuing the Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest. Officially announced, that "contest has already made a significant contribution to the development of manga culture since it started in 1979. During its history of more than a quarter century, the number of cartoon entries received totalled 289,554." Two years before the closure of the contest in the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun were published the article "Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest: New perspective may lead to fresh ideas" by Professor Masashi Ueda.
The article stated that more and more artists send to the competition cartoons such as those who previously had success. However, the author pointed out, one of the cartoons submitted for the competition, proved so unusual, grotesque, almost all members of the jury voted for awarding the author of Gold Prize of Free Event-Section. In the cartoon, monkeys hang from trees by their hands, while a man hangs from a tree by his brain. The author concluded that "this may reflect our belief that Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest is entering an era of change. I think the contest will receive more cartoons that include free and fresh ideas". But after two years this contest came to an end.
To speak convincingly about the crisis of "new" cartoons, will try to analyse the "essential" characteristics of cartoons. Cartoon can be seen in terms of visual images, which built its "semantic content". Interesting are also the philosophical, social and other messages that the audience receives by this cartoon. You can also consider methods that were used in the process of creating "comical effect" of the cartoons.
Let’s consider the imaging world of "new" cartoons. "Semantic content" of most cartoons based on the usual for spectators images, at the same time, "convenient" for the creation of "comic effects". Thus are the literary heroes (Don Quixote.), heroes of animation and cinema (Mickey Mouse., Charlie Chaplin.), paintings (Mona Lisa.), architectural structures (Tower of Pisa.) and many others. In addition, there are also stereotypical situations, such as man on desert island, man in the desert, a lover in the cupboard. And here it is necessary to notice that the number of "convenient" to create a cartoon images are not infinitely.
Each cartoon bears a certain message to the spectator. Quite often such messages are based on current information. For example, currently "fashionable" topics for cartoonists are the threat of terrorism in the world, global warming, etc.
The creative process of establishing a "semantic content" of cartoon is subordinated to the certain laws. The act of creation studied well enough (Koestler, A. 1964). For example, there is a two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons (Suls, J. 1972). Very interesting is An Affordance Theory Analysis of Cartoon Humor by Dean H. Owen (1988). Basic concepts of conceptual integration theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 1994; 1998) include mental spaces, frames, or cultural models, and mappings. The research by Alan F. Blackwell and T.R.G. Green (1999) suggests that graphical metaphor should increase the usability of visual programming languages by providing an instructional aid when learning to use the language. General Theory of Verbal Humor by S. Attardo and V. Raskin (1991) means joke similarity. We can use the main ideas of this great theory for cartoon art with success, etc. Methods for creating cartoons are fairly universal.
During the development of art of a "new" cartoon have been created "primary" works. Combinations of the above elements of creative processes such as images, methods and messages lead to creation by beginner cartoonists "secondary" works. First of all this concerned creativity of artists from China, Iran, Indonesia and others, where "new" cartoon originated relatively recently.
Does this mean that the crisis in the art of cartooning will go deeper? And are there a ways out of crisis? Of course there is. As noted by Professor Masashi Ueda, "New perspective may lead to fresh ideas". Attempts to create new images in cartoons, the original messages, embodied in the cartoons, the search of unusual methods of creating of "comic effects" may allow other ways the development of "new" cartoons.
(Source: Yeni Akrep (New Scorpion) October 2008 Issue: 74)

THE GOLDEN SMILE – Accompanying exhibition-contest – BELGRADE 2008

THE GOLDEN SMILE – Accompanying exhibition-contest – BELGRADE 2008
The 6th International Biennial of Caricature, December, 2008
Theme of the exhibition: TRADITION AND PROGRESS
Accompanying exhibition-contest: portrait caricature of Branislav Nušić (1864-1938), famous Serbian comedy writer in occasion of jubileum of writers death. The best caricature will be awarded by a Special prize and diploma.
Deadline: November, 10th, 2008.
Address:
ULUPUDS (»The Golden Smile«)
Terazije 26/II, 11000 Beograd, Serbia
(To avoid custom problems, please write DOCUMENT, NO VALUE on the envelope)
or by e-mail:
http://us.mc656.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ulupuds@beotel.rs
(JPG 300 dpi, max. A4)
For all the further information please contact
ULUPUDS, Tel/fax: +381 11 268 57 80
e-mail: http://us.mc656.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ulupuds@beotel.rs or http://us.mc656.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=jugoslav@nin.co.yu
ULUPUDS web presentation: http://www.ulupuds.org.rs/

Results Second International City Complexities Cartoon Contest 2008

Results of the Second International City Complexities Cartoon Contest 2008 - Iran

The Jury:

Erdogan Karayel / Turkey, Julian Pena Pai / Romania, Mikhail Zlatkovsky / Russia, Cristobal Reinoso / Argentina, and Bozorgmehr Hosseinpour, Firouzeh Mozafari, Bahman Abdi from Iran.

WINNERS

First Prize: Angel Boligan - Mexico

Second Prize: Jitet Kustana - Indonesia

Third Prize: Mahmood Nazari - Iran

Honorable Mentions:
Dachuan Xia - China

Cau Gomez - Brazil
Navid Sharifi - Iran
Paulo Volmar Mattos - Brazil
Emre Ozdemir - Turkey
Agim Sulaj - Albania
Ares - Cuba
Carlos David - Cuba
Mohammad Amin Aghaei - Iran

Tawan Chuntra - Thailand.

All prize-winning cartoons

Winning ceremonial Humorest 2008

Winning ceremonial Humorest - VII. cartoons biennale Hradec Kralove, Czech rep.; 16.10.2008

Photo: Winners (left to right): Lubomir Lichy (Czech rep.); Miroslav Bartak (Czech rep.); Valentin Georgiev (Bulgaria); Ivan Popovic (Slovakia).

Humorest 2008 Hradec Králové - Czech rep. Thema – "2"
Winners:
1. Prize: Miroslav Bartak (Czech rep.)

2. Prize: Valentin Georgiev (Bulgarien)
3. Prize: Lubomir Lichy (Czech rep.)
Jury Prize:
Gustav Gusttavo Olivera (Brazil)

Ivan Popovic (Slovakia)
Igor Sevcik Prize(Best graphic cartoon): Angel Boligan (Mexico).

More prize-winning cartoons

Results 1st International Cartoon Festival on Retrofitting - Iran

The result of the 1st international cartoon festival on Retrofitting (Professional section):

The 1st prize winner: Volmar Mattos Vilanova (Brazil)

The 2nd prize winner: Hicabi Demirci (Turkey)

The 3rd prize winner: Omer Cam (Turkey)

The juries prize: Naser Moghadam (Iran)

Selected Works:
- Mohsen Asadi (Iran)
- Fardin Mirzaeyan (Iran) (Also the winner of the Tabriz cartoon museum's special prize)
- Jamal Rahmati (Iran)
- Valentin Druzhinin (Russia)
- Abas Ryazi (Iran)
- Dragostinov (Bulgaria)
- Vladimir Kazanevsky (Russia)
- Abas Naseri (Iran)
- Onder Onerbay (Turkey)
- Jaber Asadi (Iran) (Also the winner of the Iran cartoon house's special prize)

Honorable mentions :
- Oleg Loktyev (Russia)
- Shirin GholiPour (Iran)
- Zhu Cheng (China)
- Parisa HosseinZadeh (Iran)
- Atila Ozer (Turkey)
- Mohammad Ali Khaleji (Iran)
- Spiro Radulovic (Serbia)
- Mahdiyeh Sabaghkar (Iran)
- Umit Mufit (Turkey)
- Makhmudjon Eshonkulov (Uzbekistan)
- Anneke Van Steijn (The Netherlands).
Source: http://www.rahimcartoon.com/en/index.php

FECO Website is renewed!

FECO Website is renewed!

New features are added to the website; such as contests blacklist, categorized cartoon contests, protected part to publish your articles and artworks, etc.:

http://www.fecocartoon.com/

And here is what they write about the renewed website in the summary report of their meeting in St Just le Martel, France on October 4th, 2008:

There will be no password anymore. The FECO site will be restyled by Alban & Bouton. Easily to read. FECO logo in blue. Flags & logo’s. Heads of chiefs. Links to members and all other known cartoon sites. We keep it simple. We do not have the money nor the people to build a spectacular site. The star rating system will be on the site, as well as information about festivals. The ‘moving’ page will be: “What happened this month?” (with up-to-date news, pictures and cartoons). More news will follow.

On-line voting for the PortoCartoon 2008 until 31st December

On-line voting for the PortoCartoon 2008 until 31st December

Dear Cartoonist,
We are very pleased to inform you that is open the on-line voting for the PortoCartoon 2008 .
The public can choose its favourite cartoon, independently of the choice of the jury of this festival. People all around the world can vote in the Cartoon Virtual Museum (http://www.cartoonvirtualmuseum.org/f_portocartoon_2008_vote.htm).
42 artists are in contest, and each cartoon can be seen in detail.
The candidates are the awarded, the honourable mentions and the finalist ones of the 10th PortoCartoon-World Festival.
The voting is open on the Portuguese Printing Press Museum and on the Cartoon Virtual Museum until 31st December.
Your vote is very important for the better decision!
With my very best regards
Luís Humberto Marcos
Director.

(The author with more votes from the public will be invited for an individual exhibition in 2009)