REVUE de PRESSE - Sud Ouest dimanche 31-01-2021

Article de Linda Douifi dans le Sud Ouest dimanche du 31 janvier 2021 et également dans le portfolio paru gratuitement en ligne visible par ce lien : https://www.sudouest.fr/2021/01/30/en-images-quand-le-virus-de-l-humour-mele-le-vin-au-covid-19-8349405-2966.php 

Translation of the article by Linde Douifi in the Sud Ouest newspaper on Sunday 31-01-2021

Cartoonists try to resist with humor

CULTURE Nol, founder of the International Cartoon Biennial of Jonzac was visiting the Gironde region in France. In his wallet, sketches from around the world about wine and Covid-19.

The context in which designers evolve is increasingly difficult

"The more difficult the period becomes, the more humor serves as a valve," assures Nol, alias Arnauld Van Der Donck, artist painter and cartoonist, president of the Humour et Vigne association and founder of the International Cartoon Biennial. As proof of this, he points to the dozens of drawings on the arrival of the coronavirus that he spontaneously received in April 2020 even though the theme of the planned edition was "joy of life". Like so many others, the event, held every last weekend in June at the Carmes, cultural center of Jonzac, has been canceled. "When we sent our greetings, many cartoonists from around the world (his network counts 700 contacts), responded with sketches to support our festival," Nol appreciates. These drawings, posted in addition to those of the previous months on the blog of his association (1), caught the eye of an Austrian publishing house. This results in a superb book published in English and German, although the illustrations speak for themselves.

Confined and prolific artists

Is this funny time when gloom seems to be gaining ground, conducive to cartoons? "Exactly, there is still a challenge to find ridiculous in the way in which all this is managed", confides Nol, passing by his friend Jean-François Janoueix, at the Haut-Sarpe castle in Saint-Émilion. The opportunity for the two friends to have fun with the drawings mixing wine and Covid-19 that the designer brought in his wallet. "Artists are still more or less confined. So they invent and try to resist with humor," analyzes Arnauld Van Der Donck. The latter has received double the images for his festival. "Usually, we select 500 out of around 1,000. There, with confinement, we have received nearly 2,000." The 14th biennial, which will finally be held from June 25 to July 4, promises to be an exeptional vintage! With the Mexican-Cuban cartoonist Ángel Boligàn as guest of honor.

The diktat of social networks

For Nol, it is all the more important to maintain its event as the context in which the cartoonists operate is increasingly difficult. "Today, social networks take offense very quickly and urge the media to be cautious," he laments, thinking of the recent apologies from the journal "Le Monde" following a drawing by Xavier Gorce. "The editorial staff lies on the altar of emotion. If we have to draw according to the reactions to be expected, that becomes impossible." And to fear, in addition to self-censorship, radical choices, like the "New York times "which decided to no longer publish any cartoons. The symptom of an era.

(1) www.h-et-v-2018.over-blog.com