Galway becomes the cartooning capital of Ireland this weekend as major cartoonists and comic book artists from across the world discuss and display their work in the city centre and Inis Oírr. Discover more about this year's Galway Cartoon Festival here...
The 9th annual Galway Cartoon Festival officially launches in PorterShed a Dó, Market Street, Friday 3rd October, at 5.30pm. The festival runs until Wednesday 8th October, and is packed with solo and group exhibitions from leading professional cartoonists, such as Ian Knox, Lucie Arnoux, and Andy Leuenberger, and Galway children’s cartoons will be on display as well.
above: Judge Dredd
In an exciting last-minute addition to the Festival line-up, John McCrea, who’s drawn for Marvel, DC, Judge Dredd, and The Simpsons, will give a talk about his extraordinary career in PorterShed a Dó, Market Street, 3pm, Sunday 5th October.
The main group exhibitions at this year’s Festival are Danse Macabre and General Mayhem, with both speaking to a world in crisis and crying out for a humorous and satirical response from cartoonists.
As Halloween approaches, Danse Macabre (Eyre Square Shopping Centre) invites cartoonists from across the globe, like Martyn Turner, Camille Besse, and Brandon Hicks, to embrace the otherworld and examine this benighted planet with a sense of horrific humour.
General Mayhem (Town Hall Theatre) is the ‘Show Me What You Got’ of Galway Cartoon Festival events. Here, the rules go out the window, as cartoonists display their own favourite work, regardless of how weird, relevant, or comprehensible it is. No matter what, the end result is always inspired fun.
This year’s Featured Irish Cartoonist is Belfast’s Ian Knox, who has enjoyed one of the most extraordinary careers in Irish cartooning. Now editorial cartoonist for Northern daily The Irish News, he began his career drawing political cartoons for left-wing periodicals Red Weekly and Socialist Challenge. With Republican News cartoonist ‘Cormac’, he created the anti-clerical strip ‘Dog Collars’ for Fortnight Magazine. Ian’s work will be exhibited in the Town Hall Theatre (Saturday, 4th October, from 11.30am) and he will give a public talk about his work (PorterShed a Dó, Market Street, Sunday 5th October, 2pm).
The late French cartoonist, Tignous (Bernard Verlhac), will be honoured with an exhibition at PorterShed a Dó, Saturday 4th October. While his work covered numerous social and political issues, he was most associated with environmental causes, particularly the plight of the panda. His widow Chloé, will also give a talk about his life and work (5.30pm) at the exhibition.
The distinctive, retro-Sci Fi style of Berlin comic artist Andy Leuenberger, will be exhibited in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre. He has been producing and self-publishing the comic Dead Time Data since 2021, while his drawings, screen-prints, and books have been seen at exhibitions and festivals around Europe.
The Festival’s Freedom Walls exhibitions - where Galway children and professional cartoonists will give their creative expression free rein - will be an international event, happening simultaneously in Galway and in L'Arbresle, near Lyon.
Works by professional cartoonists will be on the Cartoonists Freedom Wall, Lower Merchants Road, near the Pálás Cinema (from 1pm, Sunday 5th October). Work by budding young artists will be seen on the Children’s Freedom Wall, Eyre Square Centre, opposite the Mediaeval Wall (from 3.30pm, Wednesday 8th October). The event in L'Arbresle will involve children and volunteers, and be led by artist Fabrice Matray, a true friend of Galway Cartoon Festival. Inis Óirr is Galway Cartoon Festival's second home, with exhibitions in the island’s Áras Éanna Arts Centre.
above: Lucie Arnoux
French illustrator Lucie Arnoux, best known for her work on the Enola Holmes comics and for her graphic-novel autobiography, Je Ne Sais Quoi, will be an artist in residence at Áras Éanna. On Monday 6th October, she will host a Drawing Session (Tigh Ruairí, 12.30pm) and have her exhibition opening (Áras Éanna, 6.30pm). In Galway city, she will also give a comic workshop (Sub-City Comics, Corbett Court, 12.30pm, Friday 3rd October).
The Festival's annual exhibition in Irish, Tarraing é i nGaeilge (Draw it in Irish), also launches in Áras Éanna on Monday 6th October. Now in its sixth year, this is a display of cartoons in Irish, showcasing a wide range of styles and diversity of subject matter, drawn by cartoonists all over Ireland and even abroad.
Admission to all events is free, for more information please see galwaycartoonfestival.ie. Lucie Arnoux’s Sub City Comic Workshop must be booked in advance via galwaycartoonfestival.ie/eventbrite
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