Cartoon Trail

This year we thought we’d put some of our favourite cartoons from both main exhibitions out on the street where everyone can see them. Follow our Cartoon Trail from Charlie Byrne’s to Portershed A Dó. Title Translation Name Country Location Type Price Out For The Count Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Culhwch and Olwen Part 1 Gareth Allen Spain/Wales Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original Enquiries Welcome Zombie Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Dan’s Macabre Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Lautrec And Van Goch Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Billy Roll Morton Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Egg Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Culhwch and Olwen Part 2 Gareth Allen Spain/Wales Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original Enquiries Welcome Starters Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Red Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Big Ask Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Bread Tom Mathews Ireland Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St Original €225 Potential Martyrs Are Advised That The 72 Virgins Aren’t “Those Charlie guys are hot!” Nicolas Vadot Belgium Cava restaurant, Middle St Print €65 Coalition Jim Cogan Ireland Designs of Ireland, Cross St Original €225 Hot Press Jim Cogan Ireland Designs of Ireland, Cross St Original €225 Dance Macabre Jim Cogan Ireland Designs of Ireland, Cross St Original €225 Mouse Lucie Arnoux France Tigh Neachtain, Cross St Original €225 Danse Macabre 1 Joey Mason USA Tigh Neachtain, Cross St Original €225 Danse Macabre 2 Joey Mason USA Tigh Neachtain, Cross St Original €225 Brick Or Treat Steve Jones UK Nelly’s, Cross St Signed Print €65 Where The Wild Things Are Steve Jones UK Nelly’s, Cross St Signed Print €65 Rocky Horror Dara McGee Ireland Bernie Keogh’s Gallery, Cross St Original €225 Macron’s Terrorism Memorial Museum “I’m preparing an exhibition on my red period” Lasserpe France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Tignous Ten Years On “And my flies, how are they?”“Don’t worry. In a world of shit, they rule” Lasserpe France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Death to all religions! “Have some respect” Lacombe France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 EU 27 Thibaut Soulcié France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Washington Post Nicolas Vadot Belgium Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Debate on Freedom of expression “Ah shit, I’m out of arguments” Lasserpe France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 World Cartoon Appreciation Day “Take a good look, press cartoonists will soon be extinct due to a lack of females” Thibaut Soulcié France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Boss Love Tignous France Portershed A Dó, Market St Print Not For Sale Bloody Pencil Mark Winter New Zealand Portershed A Dó, Market St Print €95 Wrong Place Steven Jones UK Portershed A Dó, Market St Signed Print €95

Tarraing É I nGaeilge

Draw it in Irish Exhibition Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr Eyre Square Center, Galway Free Entry Mar chuid den fhéile, beidh taispeántas de chartúin as Gaeilge ar siúl i gCathair na Gaillimhe agus ar Inis Oírr. Seo é an séú taispeántas bliantúil de Tarraing é i nGaeilge, agus seolfar é in Áras Éanna (Inis Oírr) ar Dé Luain, 6in Deireadh Fómhair. Cuirfidh an taispeántas raon leathan de stíleanna agus éagsúlacht ábhair ó chartúnaithe ar fud na hÉireann agus fiú amháin thar lear os comhair an phobail. Tá súil againn go mbeidh an taispeántas suimiúil agus spreagúil – agus thar aon rud eile, go bhfuil sé greannmhar. As part of the festival, there will be an exhibition of cartoons in Irish in Galway City and on Inis Oírr. This is the sixth annual exhibition of  Draw it in Irish, and it will be launched in Áras Éanna (Inis Oírr) on Monday, 6th October. The exhibition will showcase a wide range of styles and a diversity of subject matter from cartoonists all over Ireland and even abroad. We hope the exhibition will be interesting and stimulating – and above all else, funny. Ealaíontóirí Roghnaithe / Chosen Artists Name Type Price Tom Mathews Original €225 Tom Mathews Original €225 Dean Patterson Print €65 Dean Patterson Print €65 Dean Patterson Print €65 Donal Casey Print €65 Donal Casey Print €65 Mick O’Hara Print €65 Caoimhe Lavelle Original €225 Caoimhe Lavelle Original €225 Rose Anne Prevec Print €65 Rose Anne Prevec Print €65 Vlad Zadneprianski Print €65 Vlad Zadneprianski Print €65 Fíona Moore Print €65 Fíona Moore Print €65 Aidan Cooney Print €65 Maarten Wolterink Print €65 Dara McGee Original €225 Is féidir leat an chuid is mó de na saothair seo a fheiceáil mar phriontaí in Ionad Siopadóireachta Chearnóg an Fhaiche. Tá na bunsaothair ar taispeáint go heisiach in ionad ealaíon Áras Éanna ar Inis Oírr. You can see most of these works as prints in the Eyre Square Shopping Centre. The originals are on display exclusively at the Áras Éanna arts centre on Inis Oírr.

Tignous – Art Survives

Exhibition and Talk PorterShed a Dó, Market Street Talk: 5.30pm, Saturday 4th October Tignous (Bernard Verlhac) was a much-loved star of French cartooning, who began to contribute to Charlie Hebdo, Fluide Glaciale, Marianne and other major comic and satirical publications at the age of 23. While his work covered about any social or political issue you could name, he was most associated in the public mind with environmental causes – the plight of the panda particularly. We are grateful to his widow Chloé for allowing us to exhibit his work, and for speaking to us about the artist she knew.

Are We Still Charlie?

A Conference Among the factors that brought the Galway Cartoon Festival into being, perhaps most catalytic was the murder of twelve people – five of them cartoonists – at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper in Paris. A thing like that can change a when to a now. Ten years on we look back in sadness, but also celebration. We embrace the artists lost that day and the spirit of satire that inspired them with a conference for cartoonists and set of related events. We wish to thank Lyon-based media education group Ça Presse for joining us in this project, the Embassy of France in Ireland and the Galway French Consular Agency, and the city of Galway for substantial support via the CAIRDE fund.

Andy Leuenberger

Exhibition Mediaeval Wall, Eyre Square Shopping Centre Created During the Festival. Free Entry Andy Leuenberger is a Berlin comic artist, producing and self-publishing the retro-SciFi comic Dead Time Data since 2021. He also regularly self-publishes satirical cartoon/comic/art/zine/whatever books. His drawings, screen-prints and books have been presented in exhibitions and festivals for micropublishing, screen printing and comic art around Europe and beyond. Self-publishing Comics Workshop Galway Mechanics Institute, Middle Street 7.30pm, Tuesday 7th October. Free Entry As well as an exhibition, Andy will give us a workshop on creating and publishing your own comics. Work created in the workshop will become another exhibition! This is an evening event for adults, including young adults. Materials will be provided but you can bring your own.

Ian Knox

Featured Irish Cartoonist Exhibition: Town Hall Theatre, Courthouse Square Opening 11.30am, Saturday 4th October Talk: Portershed a Dó 2.00-3.00pm, Sunday 5th October. Free Entry This year we point the spotlight at Ian Knox, who has had – and indeed is still having – one of the most extraordinary careers in Irish cartooning. Born in Belfast, by the early ‘70s he was working in animation in London and then Canada. From there he went on to cartoon politically for left-wing periodicals Red Weekly and Socialist Challenge, while simultaneously drawing for various UK children’s comics. He signed much of his political work Blotski, and he and Republican News cartoonist Cormac worked together as Kormski on the anti-clerical strip “Dog Collars” for Fortnight Magazine. Beginning in 1996 he contributed the “As I See It” feature to Hearts and Minds on BBC2 Northern Ireland, and from 1997-98 he was political cartoonist for Ireland on Sunday. He is now the editorial cartoonist for Northern daily The Irish News.

General Mayhem

Freestyle Exhibition Town Hall Theatre, Courthouse Square Free Entry The “Show Me What You Got” of Galway Cartoon Festival events. The rules go out the window on this one. We just want artists around the world to send us their own favourite work. We don’t care if it’s only really topical in Venezuela, or if it’s weirder than that time Gary Larson allegedly took acid. If we think it’s funny then it’s in. And Our Chosen Artists Are… Albert Ohams Nigeria Boris Erenburg Israel Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Cristina Sampaio Portugal Dave Coverly USA Dean Patterson Ireland Florian Scheurerer Germany Graeme Keyes Ireland Greg Smith Australia Grigori Katz Israel Haidari Natalija Belgium Harry Burton Ireland Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Jess Judge UK Jim Cogan Ireland Kak France Kipper Wiliams UK Liviu Stanila Romania Mahshid Hashemi Iran Mark Winter New Zealand Mick O'Hara Ireland Muzaffar Yulchiboev Uzbekistan Nancy Ohanian USA Pete Songi UK Phil Witte USA Ron McGeary UK Stellina Chen Taiwan Steve Jones UK Teja Fisher Germany Tjeerd Royaards Netherlands Tom Fiedler Germany Vlad Zadneprianski Ukraine/USA A big thank you to each of these cartoonists, and to all who went to the trouble of sending us their work. You make the Festival possible.

Danse Macabre

Our Theme Exhibition Mediaeval Wall, Eyre Square Shopping Centre Exhibiton – Free Entry It’s that time of year again. Shadows grow so long they can reach behind you and tap your shoulder. Yes, Samhain is coming. When trees get naked, winds skitter and skirl, and the dead take their holidays in the land of the living. It is time to embrace the otherworld. We bring, from all corners of this benighted planet, a gathering of the most horrific humour. Artists Selected Ben Jennings UK Christian Arnaud Bassole Burkina Faso Brandon Hicks Canada Jean-Michel Renault France Dave Coverly USA Dean Patterson Northern Ireland Maarten Wolterink Netherlands Vladimir Kazanevsky Ukraine Glenn Marshall UK Marco De Angelis Italy Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Clemens Moses Germany Anatoliy Lerner Ukraine Cristina Sampaio Portugal Erdogan Başol Turkey Graeme Keyes Ireland Salar Eshratkhah Iran Camille Besse France Kak France Ali Miraee USA Phil Witte USA Ron McGeary UK Valery Momot Ukraine Igor Smirnov Russia Kipper Williams UK Thibault Soulcié France Milko Dalla Battista Italy Marilena Nardi Italy Michel Cambon France Ciara Boland Ireland Daniel Hentschel Netherlands Countless thanks to all who sent us their work. The Whole Exhibition

Don’t Miss These Shows

The main exhibitions of the Galway Cartoon Festival 2022 are still open, but must close soon. Now is your last chance to see… Marilena Nardi – The Drawings of Tomorrow Town Hall Theatre Bar 12:00pm – 5pm Marilena Nardi teaches illustration and artistic anatomy at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, and her mastery of these disciplines is clearly evidenced by her works. She is a cartoonist of extraordinary power, a voice crying silently for justice, the passion of her meaning manifest in every line. Having appeared in leading newspapers such as Le Monde and Corriere della Sera, she now regularly contributes to Italian progressive daily Domani. Jim Cogan Retrospective Town Hall Theatre Foyer 12:00pm – 5pm Each year, the Galway Cartoon Festival endeavours to choose one Irish professional to celebrate. Jim Cogan has been one of Ireland’s funniest and most famous cartoonists for decades, and deserves this honour more than most. Watch a record of the occasion here (YouTube) Tarraing É I nGaeilge Galway City Library 10:00am – 5pm “Draw It In Irish”, our annual showcase of cartoons and comics created in the first official language, is displayed both on Inis Oírr and – until this Thursday – at Galway City Library. It features both some of the best-known names in Irish cartooning and some completely new talent. This year we even feature contributions from Italy! Drawing The Line PorterShed Bowling Green 12:00pm – 5pm And of course our main annual international exhibition, Drawing The Line, is still on show. Come and see cartoons from all around the world. Some by complete unknowns, others by the biggest names in the profession. Included among the latter are some of the wonderful guests we had this year – Steve Bell, Hunt Emerson, Cristina Sampaio, Ivailo Tsvetkov, Brady Izquierdo Rodríguez, Graeme Keyes, Tom Mathews, Aongus Collins, Dean Patterson, Harry Burton and of course, Liza Donnelly. See their work, and much more, at the PorterShed Bowling Green.

Is mian le Féile Cartún na Gaillimhe cuireadh a thabhairt do chartúnaithe

Is mian le Féile Cartún na Gaillimhe cuireadh a thabhairt do chartúnaithe a bhíonn ag obair trí mheán na Gaeilge a saothar a chur isteach le haghaidh eagrán na bliana seo d’Fhéile Cartún na Gaillimhe. Tá an téama lánoscailte do thaispeántas na Gaeilge agus déanfar cartúin ar bith i nGaeilge a mheas le cur san áireamh ann. Ba cheart iontrálacha a sheoladh trí r-phost chuig info@galway­cartoon­festival.ie i bhfoirm jpeg 300dpi. Bronnfar duais airgid ar shaothar amháin a dhéanfaidh moltóir neamhspleách a roghnú. Déanfar na hiontrálacha a roghnófar a chur i gcló agus a chur ar taispeáint in ionaid timpeall na Gaillimhe, 1-9 Deireadh Fómhair 2021. Is é an dáta deiridh a ghlacfar le hiontrálacha an 28 Lúnasa 2021. Tá na téarmaí agus coinníollacha go léir ar fáil ag galwaycartoonfestival.ie nó ach iad a iarraidh.

And The Winner Is…

We were able to put together a small pot this year to recognise one cartoon that was judged to best capture the theme of the Galway Cartoon Festival’s main 2020 exhibition, The New Normal. We asked artist Ted Turton to judge this for us (Ted also launched the exhibition). The winner is Brandon Hicks for his entry, Together. Congratulations Brandon and we’ll be in touch. Many thanks to every single artist who submitted this year. Many thanks also are due to our sponsors below. Thanks to everyone who attended one of our events and came along to the exhibitions, we hope you had your spirits lifted! The exhibitions are currently closed and while the Festival officially finished on Friday we hope to run for another week or so when Level 3 restrictions each. And don’t forget the whole of The New Normal exhibition is online!

UPDATED 04/12/20

Covid Level 3 Restriction Updates UPDATE 04/12/20: Good news! With the easing of restrictions we are having an extended Festival! The exhibition in the Galway 2020 Cornstore Galway Hub will continue from Tuesday 8th December for ONE WEEK and the exhibition in Áras Éanna Arts Centre is open NOW UNTIL CHRISTMAS! PLEASE VIEW OUR MAIN EXHIBITION ONLINE HERE! WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS.

Video: Welcome to The New Normal!

Here’s a video roundup of the launch of the 2020 Galway Cartoon Festival exhibition: The New Normal. Thanks to everyone who helped make this year such a success, we really felt the City getting behind us and we’re already planning next year!

Galway Cartoon Festival 2020 Art Trail & Venue Map

UPDATE 07/10/20: EXCEPT FOR BUSINESSES ON OUR ART TRAIL ALL VENUES ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO LEVEL 3 COVID RESTRICTIONS. PLEASE VIEW OUR MAIN EXHIBITION ONLINE HERE! WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS. Here is the map for the Art Trail and Venues involved in the Galway Cartoon Festival 2020! Click to embiggen!

Please Support Our Partners

Festival visitors can get a 20% discount from Kinlay Hostel using the promo code “Cartoon20”!