Aleksandar Zograf

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Aleksandar Zograf
BornSaša Rakezić
1963 (age 57–58)
Pančevo, Serbia
NationalitySerbian
Area(s)Cartoonist
Pseudonym(s)Aleksandar Zograf
Notable works
Bulletins from Serbia
Psychonaut

Saša Rakezić (born 1963 in Pančevo, Serbia)[1] (better known by the pen name Aleksandar Zograf) is a Serbian cartoonist, author of such works as Life Under Sanctions, Psychonaut, Dream Watcher, and Bulletins from Serbia.

Zograf's work cuts to the heart of life in the former Yugoslavia. In books like Life Under Sanctions and Bulletins from Serbia, he portrays the region's emotional twisting and impossible conditions in a dark yet amusing manner. In his graphic novel Dream Watcher (a nickname given to him by Chief Piercing Eyes of the Pan-American Indian Association),[2] Zograf describes "hypnagogic visions" — the haunting imagery that emerges in the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.

Zograf has been active on the international scene since the early 1990s, when his work began to appear in American comics anthologies such as Weirdo and Zero Zero, and when Seattle's Fantagraphics Books published several of his titles. The British publisher Slab-O-Concrete published a number of his books, and works by Zograf have been translated and published in many European magazines, and his solo titles have been issued by publishers L'Association in France, PuntoZero and Black Velvet in Italy, Jochen Enterprises in Germany, Službeni Glasnik and SKCNS in Serbia, VBZ in Croatia, KAPSIMI in Greece, Nyittott Kőnyv in Hungary, and Under Comics in Spain.

Zograf’s work has been exhibited in various venues all around the globe. An extensive exhibition, named Dreamtime/Wartime,  and a slide show by the artist, was held in 2002 at Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco. In 2003, New York's Whitney Museum hosted an exhibition entitled "American Effect," and its catalog contains an 8-page story ("How I met America") by Zograf. The show presented works by artists from all over the world, reflecting on the ways that America has influenced their lives, culture and politics.

In 2017, Zograf signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.[3]

The film, ‘The Final Adventure of Kaktus Kid’, released in 2018, directed by Djordje Markovic, is a hybrid documentary/live action/ animated movie, in which Aleksandar Zograf appears as a researcher and the main narrator. The film features appearances by Robert Crumb, Zdravko Zupan, Zoran Djukanovic, and many others.

Since 2003, Zograf has published a weekly two-page comic in the influential, independent Serbian news weekly magazine, VREME.

Selections from his work in Vreme have been published in book form in Serbian, Italian, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Hungarian.

Bibliography[]

  • Life Under Sanctions (Fantagraphics, 1994)
  • Psychonaut (#1-2 published by Fantagraphics, 1996; #3 by Monster Pants Comics/Freight Films, 1999)
  • Flock of Dreamers (Kitchen Sink Press, 1997)
  • Bulletins from Serbia: E-Mails & Cartoon Strips From Beyond the Front Line (Slab-O-Concrete, 1999) ISBN 1-899866-31-0 — translated into several languages.[2]
  • Dream Watcher (Slab-O-Concrete, 1999) ISBN 1-899866-13-2
  • Jamming with Zograf (self-published, 2002) — collaborations with other cartoonists, including Jim Woodring and Robert Crumb.
  • Regards from Serbia (Top Shelf Productions, 2007) ISBN 1-891830-42-2

References[]

  1. ^ "This is Serbia calling," The First Post (February 17, 2007).
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Zograf profile, Lambiek's Comiclopedia.
  3. ^ Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language, official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.

External links[]

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