Ojingogo & Pohadky & Hall of Best Knowledge Release Party!
Featuring Matthew Forsythe, and Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek, and Ray Fenwick!
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
The Central, 603 Markham Street (next to The Beguiling)
FREE!

Drawn & Quarterly have just released two beautiful new books in their "Petit Livres" series of little books and so we're going to throw a party! The Beguiling is proud to present the official launch party for Matt Forsythe's Ojingogo and Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek's Pohadky, on Saturday September 27th at 5pm at The Central restaurant, adjacent to The Beguiling! It's a little earlier than our normal events, but a late-afternoon/early evening... followed by a lovely dinner at The Central... sounded like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

In addition, we're pleased to add Ray Fenwick, Halifax creator of the Fantagraphics release Hall of Best Knowledge, to the evening's release! We were never able to put together a Toronto launch for Ray's outstanding Hall of Best Knowledge when it was released this past spring to great acclaim, and this will be the perfect opportunity to fete the book!

The Release Party will feature short presentations from all works as well as a moderated Q&A session with the author/artists, followed by a signing. The event is completely free to attend and appropriate for all ages, and both books will be available for sale at the event.

A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All.

ABOUT:
Matthew Forsythe is an acclaimed illustrator, blogger, and co-founder of popular illustration website Drawn.ca. His fantastic first graphic novella, OJINGOGO, has already been nominated for numerous comics and publishing awards, and all before its official release! OJINGOGO is an otherworldly pantomime about a girl, her squid, and the creatures and calamities they experience together, is an intrinsically expressive and deeply rewarding journey. OJINGOGO is accessible for all ages, tossing aside traditional narrative conventions in favour of creating its own world, language and rules that anyone can find a home of their own in. OJINGOGO is now in stock at The Beguiling.

Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek's POHADKY is an illustrated marvel; the Grimm fairy tales given life beyond the limitations of their text. Translated as "folk tales" or "storybook", POHADKY provides a tapestry of interwoven fables and morose, allegorical iconography, bringing a harsh light to the greed, loss, and submission that marks the origins of so many cultural folk tales and legends. Heavily influenced by their respective cultural backgrounds--Colek fascinated with the artistic and narrative elements in the folklore of the Czech Republic, and Shewchuk immersed in the investigation of the symbols and pictography of pre-Christian Ukrainian decorative folk arts--the artists have created a work that balances delicate, richly detailed characters and a sharp but muted visual style, and in the process have created a title that exists as so much more than mere fairy tales.

Ray Fenwick is an artist and illustrator living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. A former improv comedian and theatre school dropout, Ray now occupies himself drawing, painting and making comics. He has pioneered his own medium of storytelling, one best described as "typographical comics." Hall of Best Knowledge is presented as a handsome, personal journal written by an unnamed voice, referred to only as "The Author." He clearly fashions himself a genius, writing with a faux-aristocratic air, and it is presumably his belief in his own genius that leads him to want to share his knowledge with the world... Each page features information such as "It hardly needs mentioning that riding a pony is no intellectual triumph.... If riding a pony is so fantastic, why have I never read of any renowned pony-riding genius? It is because such a person does not exist, making it a foolish waste of time unworthy of attention." These pearls of wisdom are lettered in an elegant, almost obsessive fashion, entirely hand-crafted and bedecked with Ionic columns and fleurs-de-lis.

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- Chris @ The Beguiling

posted by Christopher Butcher @ 2:11 pm