Saturday, January 28, 2023
AGING WITH HUMOR
Dear friend can you help me and can you answer this interview??
If you have problems answering in English, you can answer in your language and I'll translate it later.
AGING WITH HUMOR
I know that it is a utopian idea to be able to find the oldest cartoonists on the planet and interview them all (that is, artists over 70 years old), but in reality this contact is for that very reason, to seek out the oldest of graphic humorists for the interview, in a project that (like others that I've tried) that still doesn't have support, that is, I don't know if I'll be able to do it, either because of the lack of support from artists who don't want to collaborate, or because of the lack of financial support to make a book and an exhibition with the material collected, but nothing like trying. If you are not a cartoonist over 70 you can help me find them (names, contacts…), that is, identify the oldest cartoonists in your country, or even from other countries?
I am not a cartoonist, I am Osvaldo Macedo de Sousa an art historian who in the last four decades has tried to make the history and histories of graphic humor, as well as to produce Salons, Festivals, exhibitions that publicize this noble art of graphic humor (I have already accomplished more than five hundred events and published more than two hundred and a half publications). My pseudonym is Humorgrafe (it's not an organization, because it's me alone under that name of «Producer»), and it is under that name that many artists know me. Do you want to help me in my new attempt to create something about the oldests graphic humorists?
The first question that arises: If it is true that the first problem of advancing bodily age is the vision and power of firm hands, creativity, disguised as isms, such as puntilisms, expressionisms, impressionisms, cubisms, futurisms... overcome these handicaps over time, with new techniques, with alternative instruments recreating the personal trait? That is, the hand shakes, the eyes fail, but the mood persists, or not?
Does aging also harm the philosophical view of humor, making it vinegary? With age, with the weight of having lived, existed, criticized repeatedly… does the look become more satirical or ironic?
Of course, there are big differences in society, in countries, in geopolitical influences and this always influences the artist's vision, so it's redundant to ask if there are differences between his mood when he started and now, but he can explain what it is in different?
All their lives, others expect a comedian to be a cheerful, fun person. With age, do they continue to ask for the same thing, or do they accept that they too can make vinegar? Or has a comedian always been a vinegary as a dispenser of complicit smiles?
What is more difficult to accept as you get older? Does it take more effort to maintain the mood every day, or is it no longer a strength, but a weakness? Do you feel aged? What is old age for you?
When looking at the past, is it important to keep the most humorous moments alive, relegating tragedies to oblivion, or do they have more force and destroy the best moments of life?
Is it easier to look at the old age of others than at your own physical "decay"?
What worries you more, lack of memory or physical problems?
When you do humor as a hobby, in retirement, it continues as an escape. If you've been a professional for decades, retirement, in principle, is finally rest, but in humor, don't you miss this constant exercise of looking at life in reverse? Is it completely abandoned or does it become an entertainment hobby?
How was the adaptation to new technologies? The speed of change has been vertiginous, which, on the one hand, has facilitated certain technical procedures, it has also complicated those who did not like the change. How did it happen to you? Do you still prefer classic techniques?
Basically, there are many years of witness to changes in society, in political and social behavior, in addition to the technical ones, that is, you are not only part of history but also a chronicler of that same history. What else has changed? How do you see this evolution, mainly in the activity of the cartoonist (comedian)?
Technologies change, humor is the same, but society has changed and put other more complicated obstacles to the freedom of humor. Is there as much or more creative freedom today than before? Political correctness, plus the idiotic susceptibilities of small groups, tribes, clubs, parties… didn't it make censorship more present in published works?
How does the society where you live view the elderly?
Is it different in the cartoon environment?
What is humor for you and what is its importance in society?
Is senile dementia a variant of absurd humor?
Do you believe that humor can help people to better accept aging and be a contribution to the daily optimism of physical decay?
Can mental decay be countered by humorous creativity? That is, if there are 12 anecdotes, the rest are already variations in the Bible. With age, is there a tendency to recover old ideas, trying to make new variations, trying to improve them? Is recycling important in humor?
In old age what is funnier to play with, or to warn others? Physical, mental, social or political issues?
Is it easier, or more difficult, for an elderly person to look to the future with humor?
Does death scare you or is dying laughing the best way to close this cycle? Are you concerned about the future of your work after you have left?
I know it's a utopia to summarize this complex and convex universe in a drawing, but could you draw (in one or two black and white works) what aging is for you? If you want to send the original, you can send it to Osvaldo Macedo de Sousa, Lg. Prof. Fernando Fonseca nº6 – 5º D, 2795-080 Linda a Velha - Portugal, or you can send it by email to humorgrafe.oms@gmail.com.
Grateful for supporting me in this utopian and quixotic project, but it is important to give artists a voice and keep the flame of humor alive in an increasingly intolerant and sad planet.
Thank you . Best regards
Osvaldo Macedo de Sousa
