humorgrafe

Not everything we laugh at we think of as humorous, and what is considered amusing changes from place to place and from time period to time period. We should therefore be cautious when talking about ancient Egyptian humour. Of course they smiled and laughed, told jokes and funny stories, but their sense of the hilarious was not identical to ours. There are a number of topics which seem to have been thought of as funny throughout the ages. Much as it pains us politically correct westerners, we have always laughed at other people's infirmities or idiosyncrasies. The blind, hunchbacks, dwarfs and retarded have been butts for our jokes. Schadenfreude, the pleasure of delighting in somebody else's misfortune, may not be quite as cruel as it used to be, but we still laugh at somebody slipping on the proverbial banana skin. Bodily functions too have tickled our funny bone. Not quite as down to earth has been satire, the art of poking fun at the powers that be; and rarest of all has always been the gentle flower of self-mockery. Not every time we read about laughter in the sources, the mirth was the result of something we would think of as funny. Piye, on his victorious advance through Egypt, had many occasions to be pleased:
Behold, [he] besieges Herakleopolis, he has completely invested it, not letting comers-out come out, and not letting goers-in go in, fighting every day. He measured it off in its whole circuit, every prince knows his wall; he stations every man of the princes and rulers of walled towns over his (respective) portionThen [his majesty] heard [the message] with courageous heart, laughing, and joyous of heart.
The Victory Stela of King PiyeJ. H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt Part Four, §818f.
Teasing can be fun if it is good humored, but mocking is generally intended to hurt. In the tale of Truth and Falsehood the son of Truth grew up without knowing his father and was mocked by the other children because of it:
"Whose son are you? You don't have a father!" And they reviled him and mocked him: "Hey, you don't have a father!"

Truth and Falsehood
Laughter is a joy in itself. But sometimes it can be used to achieve some purpose. In the tale of Princess Ahura the girl convinces her father Merneptah to let her marry her brother Naneferkaptah:
I said to him (i.e. her father): "Let me marry the son of a general, and let him marry the daughter of another general, so that our family may increase!" I laughed and Pharaoh laughed.
Setne Khamwas and NaneferkaptahLichtheim vol.3 p.128
When looking at ancient Egyptian pictures or reading old stories we get the feeling that we have a pretty good idea of what they found funny. Still, some caution is called for.
While a cute bowl with human feet like the one on the right will amuse us, a sight like this may have had much less of an effect on the ancient Egyptians who were used to much of their furniture legs having feet, or rather hooves or paws. Like beauty, funniness lies in the eye of the beholder. One man's joke may well be perceived to be an insult by somebody else. The ancient Egyptians were as likely as us to take umbrage at becoming the butt of a joke as a New Kingdom scribe learned to his chagrin.
Satire
Different social classes will laugh at different things. While the oppressed working classes would see the funny sides of their "betters", upper class scribes must have thought the descriptions of the various tradesmen in the Satire of the Trades to be hilarious:
I do not see a stoneworker on an important errand or a in a place to which he has been sent, but I have seen a coppersmith at his work at the door of his furnace. His fingers were like the claws of the crocodile, and he stank more than fish excrement

Satire of the Trades
Scene from the Erotic Turin Papyrus
There is a hint of social mockery in the Erotic Turin Papyrus where the limp, over-sized member of the exhausted lover is crowned with a lotus flower (ostensibly the flower which is adorning the head of the girl supporting the man's buttocks). These lotus flowers are often depicted in the genteel party scenes of the New Kingdom bourgeoisie, hovering above the heads of the guests. While in animal cartoons many vignettes are innocuous with hares cooking and donkeys playing the harp, it is a cat (again decorated with a lotus flower) which copulates with a goose in the Erotic Turin Papyrus. Wolves act as flute playing goatherds, and a cat drives geese in front of it in the picture of a British Museum papyrus above. One also wonders what the outcome of the game of senet between the lion and the gazelle is going to be. The darts of satire were sometimes aimed at kings and gods. Both Menkaure and Ahmose II figure in tales about drunkenness. According to a story Herodotus heard, Khufu prostituted his own daughter, and she was so successful at it that she could build her own pyramid:
Cheops moreover came, they said, to such a pitch of wickedness, that being in want of money he caused his own daughter to sit in the stews, and ordered her to obtain from those who came a certain amount of money (how much it was they did not tell me): and she not only obtained the sum appointed by her father, but also she formed a design for herself privately to leave behind her a memorial, and she requested each man who came in to give her one stone upon her building: and of these stones, they told me, the pyramid was built which stands in front of the great pyramid in the middle of the three, each side being one hundred and fifty feet in length.
Herodotus, Euterpe
In The Contendings of Horus and Seth the gods look to us like a pretty ridiculous bunch of fuddy-duddies, incapable of coming to a decision and then enforcing it. But was this how the ancient Egyptians perceived it? Maybe they were incapable of seeing their gods in such a light, and to them this was a conflict so difficult to solve that it took decades of deliberations.
Puns
There are cultures which value verbal wit more than others. The English today are very fond of punning, and so were the ancient Egyptians. Their writings are quite often spiked with word plays, hidden behind the somewhat rebus-like structure of their script.
Incongruities
To the ancient Egyptians, used to depict their gods in both human and animal shapes, the gulf between humans and animals must have been smaller than it is to us. Still it tickled their fancy to look at pictures of animals behaving like humans or listen to animal fables reflecting human behaviour. What else would a powerful lion do but laugh, when a lowly mouse promised to save him in exchange for being spared:
The lion laughed at the mouse and said: "What is it that you could [do] in fact! Is there anyone on earth who would attack me?" But he swore an oath before him, saying: "I shall make you escape from your misfortune on your bad day!" Now although the lion considered the words of the mouse as a joke, he reflected, "If I eat him I shall indeed not be sated," and he released him.
The Lion in Search of ManLichtheim vol.3 p.158
But the joke was on the lion in the end, when he was caught in a trap and the mouse returned to save him by gnawing a hole into the net holding him.
Foolishness
In the Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor it is a god mocking a mortal, but nobody needs to feel ashamed for looking foolish to a god in the vein of Ankhsheshonq's maxim Before the god the strong and the weak are a joke [2]. As the sailor tells his story:
Then he (i.e. the snake god of the island) laughed at me for the things I had said, which seemed foolish to him.
The shipwrecked sailorLichtheim vol.1 p.167
On the other hand, being laughed at by mere mortals because of one's stupidity or ignorance is a different cup of tea altogether, not something one would proudly relate to one's cronies. Such stories are rarely told in the first person singular:
And there was a priest there called Nesiptah; and as Naneferkaptah went into a temple to pray, it happened that he went behind this priest, and was reading the inscriptions that were on the chapels of the gods. And the priest mocked him and laughed. So Naneferkaptah said to him, "Why are you laughing at me?"And he replied, "I was not laughing at you, or if I happened to do so, it was at your reading writings that are worthless.

Tale of Princess Ahura
Irony was used in a letter to the scribe Amenemope. At first the writer gives fulsome praise to the scribe for his 'accomplishments' ...
A scribe (writing) in every style(?); there is nothing that he does not know. Men inquire after his response in quest of choice words. Keen of wit, patient of heart, loving mankind; rejoicing at deeds of Justice, he turns his back upon iniquity. [The scribe of steeds(?) ///////// Amenemope, son of the steward Mose, the revered.]

A Satirical Letter
... and later demolishes his reputation by citing examples of his ignorance, lack of courtesy, and incompetence. Ankhsheshonq sums up the Egyptian attitude towards foolishness in an aphorism:
The reward of the fool and the inferior man is the laughter that falls on him.
The Instruction of AnkhsheshonqM. Lichtheim vol.3 p.205
Excesses
The ancient Egyptians liked their tipple. Beer was drunk by everybody, and, weak as it was, it had its effect on those who overdid it. Overeating was probably not much of a problem among the populace who often had just enough food to survive. Thus when an upper class persons vomited because of excessive drinking and eating, their discomfort must have been especially enjoyable to the man in the street.
Nakedness and Sex
Neither nudity nor sex were funny in themselves. Workers labouring under conditions where their clothes might get spoiled apparently took them off and were often depicted naked. The phalli of gods and the pudenda of goddesses too were represented in contexts of creation. But nudity can also be used in the pursuit of one's aims, and a little laughter can make all the difference. Thus Hathor, in an attempt to expedite the proceedings in the dispute between Horus and Seth, undressed in front of Re-Harakhte:
After a considerable while Hathor, Lady of the Southern Sycamore, came and stood before her father, the Universal Lord, and she exposed her vagina before his very eyes. Thereupon the great god laughed at her.

The Contendings of Horus and Seth
It has been suggested that the god's laughter was a euphemism for intercourse, and his mirth was due to sexual gratification. Maybe so, but why would the intercrural intercourse between Seth and Horus be recounted with relish and in quite some detail later on?

The Erotic Turin Papyrus depicts sex scenes in which the male is caricatured. It will look to most of us like a satire, but some have thought that it must have a deeper, spiritual meaning .
"Snow White and the seven dwarfs"Brooklyn Museum
This has also been claimed for the little statue on the right to which the nickname of "Snow White and the seven dwarfs" has been given.
Grimaces
Pulling faces is a time-honoured way for making children laugh (or cry, as the case may be). The grimaces of the god Bes and his pulled out tongue were intended to frighten evil spirits and protect his human charges. The dwarf god was a popular deity spreading good cheer among grown-ups and children alike. According to Scott B. Noegel it was thought that when babies smiled to themselves this was due to Bes making funny faces at them.
Glass headPtolemaic (UC 22258)Source: Petrie Museum website
Infirmities and physical peculiarities
There are depictions of well-respected dwarfs going about their business, and of fat people enjoying the prosperity their obesity suggested. But apparently not all Egyptians were enlightened enough to accept people for their inner worth. These had to be exhorted to mend their ways:
Do not laugh at a blind man, Nor tease a dwarf.
The Instruction of AmenemopeLichtheim vol.2 p.160
The peculiar shape of the queen of Punt, who met the Egyptian traders sent by Hatshepsut, aroused the interest of many and her depiction made by Hatshepsut's artists was copied by people of varying drawing ability. One may surmise that this was not due to an interest in ethnography.
Queen of Punt
A small donkey depicted close to the queen was described by an inscription: The donkey that had to carry the queen (Scott B. Noegel). But the Egyptians, used to donkeys burdened with heavy loads, may have thought less of the incongruity of this rather sizable woman sitting on a scrawny donkey, but rather of a queen riding a donkey at all. Weakness, whether physical or moral, was risible. In a world where magic was thought to be as real as matter, there was no place for despondency:
The moment Si-Osire heard these words he laughed for a long time. Setne said to him: "Why do you laugh?" He said: "I laugh because you are lying down with a grieving heart on account of such a small matter! Rise up, my father Setne! I can read the document brought to Egypt without opening it, and I shall learn what is written in it without breaking its seal!"
Setne Khamwas and Si-OsireLichtheim vol.3 p.143
Slapstick
There is a large measure of cruelty involved when we enjoy the misfortune of others. A hammer dropping on a man's head, or someone falling into the water are still funny in our eyes when nobody gets badly hurt - and people in antiquity seem to have enjoyed such little misfortunes happening to somebody else, too. The ancient Egyptians, to whom beatings were not a last resort when they wanted to convey their displeasure to a subordinate, were perhaps more inured to seeing physical suffering than we are - and more accepting of it. But they set limits to what was permissible and funny. In the fable The Mouse as Vizier a mouse, weak in every respect, was chosen to become vizier to the lion, but after behaving in an excessively cruel way he was deposed and the lion
... proclaimed loudly: "From this hour onward, all mice shall disappear from the fields and shall live underground only!"Thus the king spoke and thus it happened. This is the reason why mice live in subterranean holes to this day Maat was not to be trifled with, though of course it was the powers that be which interpreted it, thus Piye, who saw himself as the rightful king of Egypt and defender of Maat, could laugh at the discomfiture of his enemies, while the mouse, servant of the lion king, became an object of contempt and derision.

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No encalço da grip€

O laboratório farmacêutico norte-americano Baxter anunciou quarta-feira ter concluído em Julho a produção dos primeiros lotes de vacinas contra o vírus da gripe A (H1N1):

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/no-encalco-da-grip8364=f529786

O Expresso publica hoje o 400.º cartoon de Rodrigo. Para comemorar o facto, pedimos ao cartoonista para eleger o melhor trabalho publicado em cada mês desde que chegou ao site do Expresso. Delicie-se com este best of do humor de Rodrigo.

Colectânea de cartoons do Humoral da História (Expresso). De Novembro de 2006 a Agosto de 2009. O melhor de cada mês:

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/cartoons-rodrigo-escolhe-ibest-ofi=f529591

www.pxmolina.com

Caros amigos, aí está o cartoon número 400 do Humoral da História:

O líder da Coreia do Norte ordenou a libertação das jornalistas Euna Lee e Laura Ling durante a visita histórica do ex-presidente dos Estados Unidos, Bill Clinton, a Pyongyang:

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/milagre-diplomatico-de-sao-bill=f529485

Por: Osvaldo Macedo de Sousa

Em 1903 descobrimos novos títulos, como "O Zé", “ATroça". "O Gafanhoto" (este de humor, mas de índole infantil), e a continuação de outros títulos como ''A Paródia", "Os Ridículos", "Supl. de O Século", "O Pagode", "A Algazarra", "Os Pontos" ... Estes três últimos do Porto, cidade que continuava a dar novos humoristas, como é o caso de Manuel Monterroso.
Manuel Monterroso, numa invocação nas páginas de "O Tripeiro" do Mestre Raphael, para além de nos traçar um retrato deste, conta-nos os seus primeiros passos: «Falar de RAFAEL BORDALO, do Mestre eminente, do amigo querido, é cobrirmo-nos de recordações e saudades de um convívio e de um tempo em que a dedicação, lealdade e boas intenções se encontravam de mãos dadas, quase na vulgaridade, numa franca e sã alegria.»
«/.../ Assim falaremos apenas, e um pouco, de Rafael Bordalo no Porto, que sempre visitava com o maior interesse e contentamento; como confessou, no seu jornal ''A Paródia" (N° 134, 1902), dizendo uma vez ao despedir-se: ''Adeus! terra simples e pura onde é grato ao homem ir de quando em quando, pela vida fora, encher o cabaz de fé, confiança e de forças!"»
«Tudo isto se passava no íntimo e amigo convívio de Rafael com Emídio de Oliveira, Joaquim da Costa Carregal, Ciriaco Cardoso, Gomes Fernandes, Luís Terra Viana, Jaime Filinto, Firmino Pereira, Justino Guedes, Sebastião Sanhudo e quantos mais ainda, todos já desaparecidos, para sempre. Foi mais tarde, quando da vinda a público do seu último jornal ''A Paródia", em 1900, que, numa ida a Lisboa, com a Tuna Académica do Porto, sendo eu ainda estudante, nos primeiros anos de Medicina, tive a suprema ventura de, pessoalmente, conhecer o Mestre, a quem me apresentei, em sua casa, sozinho, sem qualquer espécie de recomendação, o que me valeu ser recebido de braços abertos.»
«Foi, pois, para mim instante inolvidável esse dia de verdadeiro encantamento e ainda mais por receber o honrosíssimo convite de colaborar no seu brilhante jornal, o que logo, com grande e natural satisfação, comecei a fazer.»
«Nas suas estadias no Porto, não faltava Rafael, ao terminar o espectáculo teatral que frequentava com a irresistível paixão de sempre, na redacção amiga de "O Primeiro de Janeiro" onde, até horas tardias, as anedotas, o seu vivo espírito, a sua graça, sempre novos, a todos encantavam e prendiam, sem cansaço (''A Paródia", N.o 104 - 1902).»
«/…/Quando terminei o meu Curso Médico (Agosto de 1902), veio Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro ao Porto abraçar-me, por tal facto lhe merecer interesse e satisfação, e assim, da sua amizade muito dedi­cada, quase paternal, fiquei devendo tão grande e gentil prova que nunca se pode esquecer, numa saudade que a sua santa memória cada vez mais acende (A Paródia", N° 135 - 1902).»
Manuel Aníbal da Costa Monterroso nasceu a 1 de Fevereiro de 1875 em Amarante. Nascido no seio de uma família de proprietários rurais e de médicos, seguiria as pisadas da família, cursando Medicina, e governando as suas terras. Contudo, a arte, como tendência intrínseca e desenvolvida na boémia portuense, levá-lo-ía a uma vida 'profissional' dupla, ou seja, na Medicina e na Caricatura. Como ele próprio dirá numa carta a Guedes de Oliveira: "faço bonecos por fazer Arte. Eu preciso fazer bonecos... tenho a sede da arte, apesar dos muitos afazeres que me esperam...
Como médico desenvolverá o seu "métier" por diversas frentes, seja com consultas particulares na sua casa de Matosinhos, onde será médico da Assistência Nacional aos Tuberculosos, Delegado de Saúde do Porto, será um dos fundadores e posteriormente médico do Instituto de Medecina Legal, Médico Especialista dos c.F.P., assim como Professor de Anatomia Artística e Higiene na Escola de Belas Artes do Porto ...
No campo do Humor, após o início de carreira em ''A Paródia", em 1902 está a colaborar com o "Faro de Viga", publicando também em ''A Brasileira", "O Vira", ''Arte'', "O Povo", "Limia", "Comércio", ''A Pátria", ''A Luz", "O Petardo", "O Primeiro de Janeiro", "O Diário de Notícias", "O Século", "O Miau" ''A Montanha", ''A Capital", ''ABC'', "Ilustração Portuguesa", "Águia", "Sempre Fixe", "Comércio do Porto", "Tripeiro" ... para além de trabalhos dis­persas na imprensa regional, ilustração de livros ... Terá obra publicada em França no "Le Rire", e no "Le Barbare", um nunca acabar de produção. A arte era como uma droga de descompressão dos afazeres médicos, e se nem sempre a veia humorística lhe dava inspiração, não tinha problemas de pedir aos amigos, ideias ou legendas que ele pudesse ilustrar.
Amigo de várias gerações de caricaturistas, exercendo muitas das vezes a 'actividade' de médico assistente (gratuita) de caricaturistas, teve como especiais amigos Raphael, que era o seu ídolo e mestre, Leal da Câmara, e Arnaldo Ressano, fazendo-se representante deles no Norte.
Possuidor de um traço raphaelista, mas com características pessoais, abordou todos os géneros humorísticos, desde a caricatura de personagens, como a caricatura política (hoje dita cartoon), a anedota ilustrada, a BD, a ilustração ... Nem sempre o seu humor é conseguido, ou de sátira mordaz, antes um ironista que auscultava a sociedade, e que transmitia em humor para a imprensa esses murmúrios, essas lamentações que ouvia do povo. Através da sua obra ficaram registada na História as caras proeminentes do norte, assim como o dia-a-dia, pre­ocupações e alegrias do povo.
No mundo da governação, um 'velho' político, João Franco, que acabava de criar um novo partido, o Regenerador Liberal, que sempre defendeu a ditadura como única forma de governar o país, perante o descalabro dos partidos do rotativismo, surge como o Messias, e desta forma será caricaturado.
É que a certo momento já não era importante a questão da monarquia, mas acabar com o esbanjamento da Casa Real, com os jogos de apadrinhamentos nos monopólios, com a falta de honestidade e linhas directoras na política nacional. Ícone deste viver, é a caricatura de José Dias por Leal da Câmara em que o apresenta como «O amigo dos republicanos, o amigo dos anarquistas, o amigo dos socialistas, o amigo dos monárquicos, o amigo dos legitimistas, o amigo dos revolucionários, o amigo dos conservadores ...» Cada um procurava deixar em aberto o seu futuro, fosse qual fosse quem vencesse, como será comum a constante mudança de casaca política ...
A política nestes dez anos foi um caminhar gradual para o fim inevitável do regime, pontuado por escândalos. A opressão intensificava-se como tentativa de suster o caminho para o abismo, como ignorar a realidade, fantasiando-a com inverdades, e a imprensa foi a mais castigada com esta hipocrisia política. Jorge Colaço, numa caricatura, retrata a sua posição de jornalista, rodeado de polícias, que lhe segredam: «Escreva o que quiser, sr. jornalista, que nós cá estamos!...»

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Biblioteka stripa IKAR *broj 7* Library comic IKAR
I z d a v a č k o K r e a t i v n a A r t i s t i č k a R a d i o n i c a /C r e a t i v e P u b l i s h i n g A r t i s t i c W o r k s h o pUrednik / Editor : Zoran Matic Mazos, http://www.kiks.site90.net/Copyright © KIKS.Zikison, 2009. All Rights Reserved.Clan Nahualli & Zoran Matic Mazos, Paracin, SERBIA.Website: http://www.zikison.net/ E-mail: http://us.mc365.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kiks.zikison@yahoo.com

EL BUS de Lenguaviva
Un vehículo de humor sin ruta fija
No. 36, 3 agosto, 2009

¡Aquí está ya! Here it is!
EL BUS No. 36 acaba de salir a su recorrido humorístico semanal. It just came out.
Como siempre, trae de todo. It has a lot of good stuff.

YA TENEMOS UN NUEVO WEBSITE. WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE.
Para subir al BUS haga click en el siguiente link o copy and paste it en su browser:

http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=79374478&msgid=907152&act=GV71&c=369435&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Felbusdelenguaviva.com

Y no olviden pasarle este email (o el website del BUS) a sus amigos(as). Se lo van a agradecer. O, si lo prefieren, envíennos las direcciones electrónicas de los amigos o amigas a los que quieran mandarles EL BUS y nosotros nos ocupamos de eso. Please, forward it to your friends.

Esperamos que este número 36 de la reírvista digital de los lunes les guste tanto o más que las anteriores. We hope you like No. 36.

Y esperamos también que pasen una semana muy, pero que muy feliz. Have a great week.

Nos vemos en el Número 37 del BUS. See you on EL BUS number 37.

Besos y abrazos para todas y todos, Hugs and kisses for everyone,

El colectivo del BUS
EL BUS staff

Venezuela: 360 estações de rádio em risco de fechar. Depois de ter encerrado 32 rádios e duas estações de televisão, o Governo de Hugo Chávez ameaça mais órgãos de comunicação social:

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/a-voz-da-venezuela=f529139

Book of Marilena Nardi (Italy)

Diseñadora gráfica, caricatógrafa y pintora, definen las potencialidades de Elena María Ospina Mejía. Y en cada uno de esos escenarios, tantos filones como su capacidad creadora tocan. Por la cual no es de extrañar que la revista de Arte de Perú, Artefacto, la designara como la artista más versátil de Latinoamérica. Pero además habría que agregar otra cualidad: mujer. En un espacio como la caricatografía, donde todavía es magra la participación femenina, Elena ha demostrado que se puede ser tan buena y tener una figuración internacional tan sólida como la de cualquier colega varón. De hecho, le molesta que en las entrevistas este tópico sea reiterativo, pero comprende también que la pregunta avizora otra sensibilidad social. Un despertar que no condena a la mujer al silencio de los gineceos. Y lo celebra gustosa. Los tiempos están cambiando para las mujeres.
Por la preeminencia masculina en el arte de la caricatura, no es de extrañar que Elena fuera también la única caricatógrafa que integrara El cartel del humor, el grupo de más de veinte creadores, gestores culturales y estudiosos de la caricatura, que se asociaron en Bogotá a finales de la década de los ochentas y principios de los años noventas. Esa misma condición pionera la llevó a participar, en compañía de Consuelo Lago, Adriana Mosquera -Nani-, Martha Elena Hoyos y Marta Montoya en la exposición mundial “Las Mujeres Creadoras y el Arte de la Caricatura”. Una muestra que incluye a 43 mujeres de 22 países, la cual itinera aún por museos y salas especializadas del planeta, gracias a la gestión cultural de la poeta Giomar Cuesta.

Algo más que el dibujo
Y si bien el interés por el arte lo cultiva Elena desde muy temprana edad, su vinculación al diario El Espectador profesionaliza sus estudios de Diseño Gráfico. El proyecto innovador de la revista Los Monos, donde aportó -además de sus dibujos humorísticos cargados de ternura- una línea pedagógica, lúdica y ecológica que hoy le reconocen sus lectores, constituyó el punto de partida para crear su propia agencia de diseño gráfico. La presencia creativa en el ámbito nacional e internacional se evidencia en las múltiples campañas para organizaciones mundiales (Naciones Unidas, Unicef, OEI). Desde esa agencia, compartida con el caricaturista Luis Eduardo León, incursiona en la ilustración de textos escolares para diversas editoriales y países de América (Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Argentina). Uno de sus mayores éxitos en este campo es la creación de los personajes Los Mapos que definieron, reorientaron y posicionaron un exitoso proyecto pedagógico de Editorial Kapelusz en tierra de gauchos (2006).
Su viaje a Europa le aportó nuevas miradas y mayores horizontes. Se vinculó a la Asociación Profesional de Ilustradores de Madrid –APIM-; enriqueció su portafolio de clientes con el nombre de nuevas editoriales inglesas y españolas, incrementó el cultivo de la fisonomía caricatográfica, y dedicó tiempo a conquistar nuevos galardones en los concursos internacionales del popularmente denominado Humor Gráfico. Ya en Colombia había recibido el Primer puesto del Premio Ricardo Rendón, en el marco del Festival Latinoamericano de Humor Gráfico (Bogotá, 1988) y varias selecciones y premios en Brasil, Turquía, Italia, Rumania, Estados Unidos. En reiteradas oportunidades ha sido invitada a las exposiciones que organiza la Federación Mundial de Caricaturistas FECO-España y es una participante recurrente en el Festival Internacional de Humor Gráfico que organiza la Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Fue nombrada Embajadora Honoraria de la ciudad de Granada, en el marco del Segundo Encuentro Internacional de Humor Gráfico y reafirmó su calidad de campeona de largo aliento en los concursos de Paraguacú (Brasil); Azerbaijan (Rusia), Santomera, (España); Gallarete (Italia); Bogotá, Medellín y Cali (Colombia); en los que obtuvo premios y menciones.

Diseño simbólico y conceptual
Elena no ha llegado a Rastreando Rostros con la condición femenina que la mirada machista pretende encontrar; su trabajo se para de igual a igual y sin complejos sensibleros en el escenario. A diferencia de los abordajes de sus colegas, las fisonomías de la antioqueña tienen una unidad temática: los artistas de su predilección. La nota característica que predomina en el conjunto de la obra es el diseño. Una forma singular que podría señalarse como diseño simbólico o altamente conceptual. Y en ese tipo de abordajes se acerca bastante a la obra de Calarcá, aunque en éste predomine la síntesis. Las fisonomías de Elena parten formalmente de los elementos que distinguen las obras pictóricas o escultóricas de artistas plásticos. Mientras otros fisonomistas caricatográficos enfatizan en la caracterización psicológica, Elena las propone, además, desde una caracterización estética, en un proceso de diseño que compone y recompone los elementos plásticos característicos de los personajes caricaturizados.

Imágenes de maestros
Así, desde una composición cubista, encontramos un Obregón realizado con fragmentos que reinterpretan sus enérgicos trazos pictóricos y recuerdan intensamente a sus amados cóndores de los andes. O nos dejamos sorprender por el perfil zigzagueante de un Omar Rayo geométrico en el que dialogan, en contrastes acentuados, los rojos, negros y blancos en los que pervive el aporte de culturas ancestrales. Un Andy Wharhol pop y sicodélico, acentuado por los colores característicos de las planchas de serigrafía, en el cual extrema síntesis y miradas valorativas.
En una profusión de colores que la retratan tanto a ella como a su México profundo, Elena nos brinda la fisonomía de Frida Kahlo. En esta obra la composición, también sintética del rostro y las cejas, deja rodar una lágrima que aviva el dolor de una existencia vital, tumultuosa, dolorida.
Y para superar el análisis pormenorizado de este trabajo que propicia la deliciosa sonrisa del asombro, rematamos con su Salvador Dalí, sin duda la joya de la corona. Una caracterización conceptual que se regodea en sus relojes blandos y en sus cielos catalanes. En esta fisonomía la síntesis y el diseño simbólico compiten con idéntica fuerza por constituirse en la nota característica predominante, para dejarnos en la retina una sensación onírica y surrealista que la propia Gala refrendaría.
Con su participación en esta exposición, Elena Ospina reconfirma la maestría y versatilidad que ya le han reconocido internacionalmente.

*Artista, escritor y gestor cultural.

Ilustracion - En el perfil de Omar Rayo dialogan los rojos, negros y blancos.


CARLOS ALBERTO VILLEGAS URIBE

http://termitacaribe.blogspot.com/

http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/tags/carlos-alberto-villegas-uribe

http://redreir.blogspot.com/

Ahora sí, al borde del mes, finalmente está lista la edición Nro. 20 de la revista virtual "Artefacto", esta vez con nuevos temas. Una entrevista con el humorista político hondureño Allan MacDonald, quien nos responde desde la capital centroamericana, luego que sus dibujos fueran censurados.
Además, un homenaje al maestro argentino Andrés Cascioli, gran caricaturista y creador de la revista "Humor"; y una crónica de nuestro encuentro con el maestro Quino, en su visita al Lima.
Bastante material para leer y disfrutar.
Pueden bajarla gratuitamente desde aquí:

Type of columnist

Espanha chocada com atentados em Maiorca e Burgos, dos quais resultaram dois mortos e mais de 60 feridos. A organização separatista basca ETA completa hoje 50 anos:

http://aeiou.expresso.pt/eta-meio-seculo-a-bombar=f528776