The jury of the 21st Euro-Kartoenale Kruishoutem 2017 'The Soul'
The 27th of January the 9 members of the jury will in a life meeting select the cartoons for the exhibition and the catalog and choose the winners of our 21st Euro-kartoenale 'The Soul'.
André NOLLET, president
Once again André Nollet has undertaken the presidency of the jury of the Euro-kartoenale. At the age of 71, he can make no small claims of his experiences in the world of cartoons.
He was a professor of advertising & design at the 'Karel de Grote' College in Antwerp and has his own design office 'Nollet Cartoons & Creatie'. For years he drew press cartoons for different newspapers. Nowadays he focuses on cartoons as means of communication within companies. Management, organization, safety, hygiene…
According to André, cartoons, should above all introduce humor to everyday life.
In reply to our question as to whether one should be a little mad to be a member of a jury which receives so much criticism, he simply replies: "No, you do not have to be mad, someone has to do it, and I am always ready to be involved".
André expects a cartoon to be on a top level graphically, and should then include an element of surprise.
One of his typical catchphrases is: "Be direct''.
André wishes success to all the competitors and hopes that the best will win.
Hilde Vandervelde
Hilde Vandervelde represents our sponsor ‘deMens.nu’. This is an umbrella organization of Flemish humanist organizations in Flanders and Brussels. She is the chief editor of their magazine, and is also a director of ‘Beeldenstorm’, an organization that offers a wide range of artistic, educational and socio-economic projects.
"Cartoons are for me a form of freedom of expression, a universal human right and a fundamental value within the humanism. An interesting question here is how far humor can or may go. Because freedom is never absolute."
She is particularly curious to see how people of different nationalities, backgrounds and beliefs approach the theme 'The Soul' and how this diversity will be reflected in the submitted cartoons.
"For me there must be a good balance between the graphics and the message. Both are important and should be mutually reinforcing. A cartoon should stand out and be powerful enough to capture an idea in one image, and to transfer it, should at least provoke a smile and at the same time encourage a moment of reflection. "
In the jury she will be strict but fair. Her slogan: face the world without prejudice, but critically.
Elzbieta Laskowska (Poland)
Elżbieta is an art historian and director and curator of the Museum of Caricature and Cartoon Art in Warsaw. She has been a jury member of many well known cartoon and art contests in Poland. She expect that the participation in the jury of the 21st Euro-Kartoenale Kruishoutem 2017 will be a great experience.
The theme ‘The Soul’ is very difficult. Soul is usually associated with a living being. However sometimes we say that ‘objects have a soul’.
„It will be very interesting to compare and evaluate various and different ways of interpreting this concept in graphic art. I will be looking for the ideal (I believe it’s possible) combination of ideas and artistic interpretation, which demonstrate the author’s sense of humour. For me this is the essence of a good cartoon.
The study of satire cartoons can be an inexhaustible source of insights and perspectives on how to do it and what artistic means can be used.
I am a ‘believer’. I believe in the power of caricature and cartoon art. It reflects our problems, successes and failures. And it can not only be ‘funny’ but also thought-provoking.”
IAN (Jan De Graeve)
Jan De Graeve is a regular jury member of our Euro-kartoenale. For years, he commented politics with his cartoons in major Belgian newspapers and magazines (De Morgen, De Standaard, Knack ...).
About the theme he says: "The soul is like God: they both are created to the image and in the likeness of man. So they are fascinating. "
As member of the jury Ian has a specific objective: preventing the other judges to approve bad entries: "I want to avert the banal and demand just a minimal graphical level. I do not want to reward good messages, but good cartoons."
He is "strict but fair" and a cartoon should provide "immediate clarity”.
Luc Govaert
Luc Govaert is the representative of the sponsor 'Willemsfonds' in our jury.
He is familiar with the cartoon world, and is drawing himself portraits, caricatures and cartoons with the pseudonym Lugo. He also makes illustrations for the magazine of the Willemsfonds, posters and logos. All his life he has been a fan of comics books.
Cartoons, and art in general, have always fascinated him. And he looks forward to meet new people from the cartoon world personally, perhaps the beginning of building a new network.
He hopes that in the cartoons the contrast is discussed between the "soul of the common man" and "the one of the, in many aspects unworldly, political leaders".
Luc: "A cartoon must be immediately understandable and spiritually, not necessarily amusing. The value of the idea behind the cartoon is more important than the drawing style. If the style is fine, the idea will benefit. But as a team player and democrat, I'm obviously open to pay attention to the opinions of others to reconsider my judgment.
The older one gets, the more knowledge and experience, the quieter and more sedate one is in the confrontation, analyzing and addressing problems. Man and the world remain exciting to observe."
Marco D'Agostino (Italy)
Marco lives in Pescara on the Adriatic coast of Italy.
From an early age on he liked to draw, but only in 2009 he began rather accidentally to participate in cartoon contests, and successfully. In 2013 he was awarded the ‘Prize of the ECC ' in the Euro-kartoenale 'Bicycle' and so he had his personal exhibition in the ECC.
It is the first time he is member of the jury of a cartoon contest, but he is confident that he has enough experience in the cartoon world to be a good jury member.
'The Soul' is immaterial, and indeed difficult to visualize in a cartoon. A difficult but certainly not impossible task for a good cartoonist.
The essence of a good cartoon is the idea and the message. This may be a bit hidden, but, if he takes a good look at it, it will bring a smile to the viewer.
As a juror Marco will be meticulous, careful and collaborative.
His slogan: a cartoon should not only generate a smile, but also immediately a serious reflection.
Ronald VANOYSTAEYEN
Ronald was in 1986 the initiator and co-founder of the ‘George van Raemdonckkartoenale’ in Boechout (Belgium). He is also chairman of the association International Humour in Art (IHA), an association that deals with humor and art, or better humor in art.
He was a jury member in many cartoon contests in Belgium, Poland, Germany and Canada. And as a cartoonist he himself had personal and group exhibitions in Poland, Ukraine, France and Belgium.
He is very curious about the entries in Kruishoutem, because this is one of the better contests where usually many famous cartoonists are participating. He really hopes that the drawings have ‘Soul', that the cartoons are about the inner man, the 'spirit'. Wait and see!
The essence is for him the idea, which is the real soul of the cartoon. And of course, the graphic quality should also be OK. A good black / white cartoon, a line drawing is as much worth to him as the miniature paintings of some.
As a jury member, he describes himself as a quiet spectator to the wonderful world of cartoons. Through his experience, he quickly separated the wheat from the chaff and then it will take a bit longer to determine the order of prices, in consultation with the other judges, of course. He will, however, defend 'his' choice.
"In everything is humor, but sometimes you have to penetrate the soul of things to discover."
Roger Penwill (UK)
Rogers first cartoon was published in 1965 while he was still at school. He has been a jury member of contests in Ukraine, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and UK.
“Each contest judging is different – each contest has it’s own way of deciding the winner and it’s interesting to see the various ways people feel it should be done. Jury members bring a variety of views and opinions to the judging table and you are lucky if the cartoons you like are also the choice of others.”
For Roger a cartoon should be funny, well-drawn with a feel for good visual design and, most importantly, an original, and probably surprising, idea. ‘The Soul” is a very challenging subject. It is an abstract concept – does it exist and what actually is it? What it is, for sure, is a particularly difficult theme for cartoons without captions. It will be very interesting to see how it has been interpreted.
As a jury member he wants to be unbiased. “Being unbiased is particularly difficult when you know the cartoonist, but I try to judge fairly”. His slogan: “Keep it simple”.
http://www.penwillcartoons.com/
Karl Meersman
Karl was born in 1961 and lives in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium).
He is one of the most famous Belgian press cartoonists. He is the house cartoonist of the magazines Trends, Knack and Focus Knack.
He feels strongly attracted to "satire" and the cartoons of the 'fin de siècle’: Félicien Rops, Toulouse Lautrec and Honoré Daumier continue to inspire him today.
For Karl "humor is a form of intelligence. In addition, the cartoon as an art form is a peaceful act of resistance, fighting against lust of power and vanity. So long live the cartoon. "
What he expects or hopes to see in the cartoons on The Soul? "I usually have no expectations. My mind is a blank sheet, which will hopefully be filled with very surprising images that also hit me in my soul ... "
And the essence of a good cartoon according to Karl is the unusual, surprising view. Provoking a laugh and a reflection. And technically well made.
As a judge, he is strict but fair; at the start quickly decisive, in the final rather slowly. His slogan, "The truth does not exist" (have another jury, and you probably have another winner) - or also: "There is no one who can’t teach you nothing."
