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A Word With Nial O'Connor
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Adelaide artist Nial O’Connor (a.k.a. Zeldz Magnoonis) left Australia four years ago to take his comic to the world. Now, on the eve of his return, Nial talks to Merge about the Adventures of Pepe through the luscious curves of the earth’s creation. How the beautiful game flows through his fingers and the importance of love.
What was the first comic you bought with your own money?
Either a Beano, 2000 AD or Roy of the Rovers comic. In the mid to early 80’s in Ireland, that’s what was available. The first comic I started ‘collecting’ was Wolverine.
Why comics?
So many reasons! Most essentially, a love of reading stories and a love of pictures.
Where did the character Pepe come from?
Pepe was inspired from footage of football in the 70’s - especially world cup videos. The players had so much time, they could let the ball flow around the park, re-directing it’s movement rather than stopping it dead with tight control. It just looked like so much fun – really just playing with a ball. I wanted Pepe to be an embodiment of this spirit, the spirit of kicks in the park on a lazy summer day.
Pepe is about football, but explores more psychedelic themes. Can you explain your style with reference to football?
The idea of flowing 70’s football is consistent with the aesthetic I try to apply to all aspects of comic creation. Anything that is smooth/flowing/syrupy - from Art Nouveau to Paulo Di Canio’s right footed volley against Wimbledon. Psychedelic themes generally mix in well with this.
It looks like you have a lot of fun with your art. Is this the case?
YES!!! Too much fun! My biggest challenge is restraining the art so it doesn’t interfere with the readability of the story. Of course there are frustrating days, but generally, you can put your head down and start drawing in the morning, and the next thing you know its night!
You went straight from Adelaide to France - did you fall in love there?
My experience of France was extraordinary in many ways. I had to adapt to a foreign culture and way of life while struggling financially, but it was full of wonder and inspiration at the same time. It was certainly a time of highs and lows, but I did fall in love, which helps in viewing the world with rose coloured glasses. My ladylove got a job in Shanghai, so I followed her there in 2006.
What’s keeping you in Shanghai for the moment?
A lot of people are sinking their money into this place at the moment. The upswing of this hyper development is a lot of opportunities and freedom in creative fields. Combined with the relatively low cost of living, it allows enough free time to continue working on personal projects.
A typically Shanghai moment?
Seeing a guy on the street dressed in his pyjamas, with glad wrap around his hair, pointing at me and laughing. You know you’re not on your home ground when the guy in pyjamas and glad wrap has more street cred than you.
What does the future hold for you?
The creation of a series of Pepe albums. I have been working on a series of stories over the last few years, and will have the first full colour Pepe out later this year in an exhibition and limited edition collector‘s run.
Your personal motto is to “Keep busy but rest easy.”
It’s just the wholesome feeling you have after a very full and productive day. You lay your exhausted head on to the pillow and boom – you’re out like a light – sleeping deeply and soundly till the first light of the next day, recharged and refreshed and ready to go again.
What do you want to achieve with your art?
I’d like to think that by the time I’ve made my last brush strokes and pencil lines, I could honestly look back and say that I gave it my best, that I pushed my abilities as far as I could. I hope people delight in my images, that for the brief moments they spend looking at it, they linger over the curves and forms and find them appealing in a way they can’t verbalize. I hope they slow down for a few moments in the day and a small smile creeps into the corners of their mouths.
Check out Nial's work in the Gallery.
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Nial O’Connor (a.k.a. Zeldz Magnoonis) introducing Jing Jing – the title character of his soon-to-be released comic “Jing Squared” (晶²) – and discussing her character, powers, and world. The comic is designed specifically for viewing on mobile phones, and will be available for download from mid-2009 onward throughout mainland China. Illustration & narration by Nial O’Connor. Film production by fifty 5. Soundtrack by Neocha.com user Nara. Link here for a fifty 5 post with some of Nial’s work from a recent exhibition at Shanghai’s Art Plus gallery. Also, link here for a recent interview Nial did with Merge Magazine. For more from Nial O’Connor on NeochaEDGE, link here. /// AjS Promotional Products Promotional Products Corporate Gifts Below is a Chinese-subtitled version of the video above. If you are accessing the above VIMEO video from within China and finding it to be loading / streaming too slowly, the below Tudou video may be faster if you don’t mind the subtitles. There also a Chinese-subtitles version available on VIMEO.
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In a cottage in the west of Ireland sits writer Jim Foley, moulding scraps of memory into shape, into literary form. He is composing what turns out to be an extended love letter to his wife, in the hope that the act of narration will somehow connect them more intimately. The novel's title draws from a phrase in the Roman Catholic liturgy: "Only say the word, and I shall be healed". Foley is waiting, indeed working, 220-702 for redemption, chasing down his ghosts and trying to corral them into being characters.
Sleeping, while he writes, are his two young children, who seem to regard their father through a fog, or as though from a great distance. His relationships with them are richly and subtly drawn. Williams 642-181 has a keen eye for the ironies of living with an artist who writes sharply of love but finds unliterary loving difficult. Like father and son in the famous Tony Harrison sonnet, Foley and those around him often appear like bookends: apparently similar, but separated by books.
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