Grafixx 2024

During the twelfth edition of Grafixx this autumn, an international selection of graphic artists will invite you to explore the traditions of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The festival theme of transmission inspires a rich menu of lectures, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, and performances. The icing on the cake? Our zine fest serves stacks of remarkable publications to devour at home.

GRAFIXX HOUSE CALL #14

Icinori(FR)

Renowned for intricate artworks distinguished by narrative depth and visual experimentation, Mayumi Otero and Raphael Urwiller are also known as the illustration duo Icinori. They always continue to innovate, balancing hand-drawn elements with textures from printmaking techniques, and to celebrate colour and stories.

Grafixx EXT.: WILDGROEI @ Galerie Ofwel Ofnie

Sat 09.11.24 — Fri 17.01.25

Exhibition

Hanna van Dun(BE), Tijs Van Nieuwenhuysen(BE), Thomas Janssens(BE), Charlot Vael(BE)

Following their Grafixx artist residency and a successful exhibition at Destelheide, Charlot Vael, Thomas Janssens , Hanna van Dun and Tijs Van Nieuwenhuysen bring their translation of ‘WILDGROEI’ to Galerie Ofwel Ofnie. Wild growth is growth of an impetuous, unrestrained and unlimited nature. What forms can unlimited sprawl take?

GRAFIXX EXT.: Off the Wall @ Bureau Bouwtechniek

Fri 29.11.24 — Sun 01.11.26

Mural

Arthur Devisscher(BE)

Every two years, Bureau Bouwtechniek invites a new artist to create a wall painting at their headquarters located in the Nieuw Zuid neighbourhood of Antwerp. Grafixx selected Arthur Devisscher, whose detailed and colourful sequential works unfold in stories that pay tribute to nature and the animal kingdom.

Book presentation Sporen with Atsuko Ishii & Sarah Cheveau

Thu 21.11 20:00-20:30

Book presentation

This year, the festival kicks off with a delightful book party. Grafixx’s own imprint Sporen presents new publications by Atsuko Ishii (JP) and Sarah Cheveau (BE), afterwards revealing the artworks in two accompanying exhibitions. Next up, Ria Schulpen (Bries, BE), Leif Low-Beer (CA) and Nino Bulling (DE) recommend some treasures from their bookshelves during the […]

Book Club with Nino Bulling, Leif Low-Beer & Bries

Thu 21.11 21:00-22:00

Lecture

This year, the festival kicks off with a delightful book party. Grafixx’s own imprint Sporen presents new publications by Atsuko Ishii (JP) and Sarah Cheveau (BE), afterwards revealing the artworks in two accompanying exhibitions. Next up, Ria Schulpen (Bries, BE), Leif Low-Beer (CA) & Nino Bulling (DE) recommend some treasures from their bookshelves during the […]

Marc Bell

Fri 22.11 14:00

Lecture

Since the early nineties, Marc Bell has been doodling a cast of memorable comic personalities. His images can be recognised by their vibrating strokes. They’ve been featured in Canadian weeklies and in graphic novels peppered with absurd wit and wordplay. Autumn brings no less than two brand new wonderfully confounding publications.

Carll Cneut

Fri 22.11 16:00

Lecture

Carll Cneut arrived into the world of illustration as a graphic designer, and has since been refining his craft, book by prizewinning book. He layers paint to carefully compose images that reach further than the page and pay tribute to ancient masters like Bruegel, Bosch and Ensor.

Anders Nilsen

Sat 23.11 14:00

Lecture

Anders Nilsen’s meticulously detailed drawings are fragile and powerful at the same time. Armed with a dash of humour, astute observations and a rich knowledge of culture, he uses his comics and illustrations to dive into the big issues of life, daring to summon questions without promising answers.

Kaye Blegvad

Sat 23.11 16:00

Lecture

Kaye Blegvad takes her elegant, stripped-down drawings as a starting point to venture out in a variety of media including metalwork, textiles, and ceramics. She loves the idea that her artworks can be functional everyday items, but has also authored two books and many zines.

Yvan Alagbé

Sun 24.11 14:00

Lecture

Yvan Alagbé is a major voice in French alternative comics, both as an author and as a co-founder of the imprint Amok and the magazine Le Cheval Sans Tête. In his graphic novels, he has fearlessly treated themes like love and race, oppression and escape with powerful monochrome brushwork.

JooHee Yoon

Sun 24.11 16:00

Lecture

In her lauded illustrations, prints and picture books, JooHee Yoon translates the life-long fascination for communication she inherited from a youth spent between two cultures. The powerful, boldly coloured images are informed by a profound knowledge of the printing process.

drypoint etching – Kim Troubleyn

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Workshop

Kim Troubleyn will teach you some new printing skills with D.I.Y. materials. Delve into the world of James Ensor, and discover his multifaceted engravings. Step by step, you will take several experiments and zoom in on the happy accidents that the dry point etching technique provokes.

stencil print – Gerard Leysen & Sofie Van der Linden

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Workshop

The Gestetner duplicator is the hand-driven predecessor of the photocopier and served as a model for the electronic risograph printer. The machine was a gigantic success and changed the office into a bustling print station. Rediscover this vintage powerhouse and multiply your own design!

charcoal drawing – Sarah Cheveau

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Workshop

Discover the true essence of charcoal with Brussels artist Sarah Cheveau. She will teach you to burn your own drawing sticks on the barbecue, so you can test out several techniques on paper. Drawing with lines or smudges: your artwork won’t appear without soot on your hands…

Nino Bulling

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

The comics Nino Bulling makes always move in between autobiography and fiction. They place intimate questions like transition, friendship and belonging against a context of social and climatological issues. Their supple brush strokes also escape the page in room-filling textile installations.

Leif Low-Beer

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Leif Low-Beer sets out as an explorer when he creates his sculptures, drawings and paintings. Juxtaposing materials and shapes, he builds pictorial spaces and chases stories. Balancing chaos and structure, visual play and narrative suggestion, his installations are delightful to get lost in.

Wide Vercnocke

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Lieslaarsman compiles a selection of comics made for Bruzz magazine. Author Wide Vercnocke exhibits the original drawings and risographs, and declares the Lieslaarsmanifesto in a captivating performance from which one will emerge spiritually awakened. Be warned: Lieslaarsman will sign anything that moves!

Céline Hudréaux

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Visual artist Céline Hudréaux is passionate about classic printing techniques, and teaches them too. They lend a melancholic character and a naive charm to her work. Hudréaux is inspired by dreams, primitive and folk art, and explores themes like the tension between human and nature, or life and death.

Die Schlumper

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Die Schlumper are a collective founded in 1980 by Hamburg artist Rolf Laute. With differing handicaps and individual creative attitudes, they find each other in the principles of self-determination and artistic freedom. They have a studio where they exhibit and sell their works.

Marc Bell

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

GRAFIXX GRADUATES

Fri 17.11 + Sat 18.11 + Sun 19.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Minicinema 1+

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Screening

The tiny protagonists we discover in this Minicinema are not afraid to face the big questions of life. In some masterfully crafted adventures, they move between nature and technology, past and present, finding their own place to create new memories and customs.

Animation 16+

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Screening

Responding to our first-ever open call for animated movies, artists from all over the world submitted short films from a wide range of cultures, minds, and fantasies. Take a seat and journey through a dazzling selection of digital and handcrafted animations that brings together forgotten treasures, graduation projects, and recent prize winners. Work by a.o. […]

Peiyang Xu

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Peiyang Xu conveys complex emotions through surreal comic worlds. Her work focuses on power and violence, blending pain and humour in nonlinear narratives. She sees comics as a potential archive and amplifier to shed light on truths that have been obscured or silenced.  

Nora Van Huychem

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Nora Van Huychem is working on a graphic novel in black and white, in which she plays with the contrast between line drawings and shading. The story reveals the memories of an old man going to an absurd club buried deep inside a forest, which keeps you wondering what is fact and what is fiction.

Patrycja Kosinska

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Fishboy is a comic about the difficulty of living with anxiety. In this book, Patrycja Kosinska blends personal struggles with humour to make them less intimidating. The story follows Bo, a rather sad individual who attempts but fails to end his life, and records the encounters that change his path.

Margot Olieslagers

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Margot Olieslagers looks for the boundary between of fiction and reality in bright felt-tip drawings. Her autofictional story Jesus was a very tall man, his shroud was 4,36 meters long is about being overshadowed by the people close to you, and about growing up in a Christian history you’re barely familiar with.

Sarah Cheveau

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

Sarah Cheveau presents, among other works, the drawings for her new zine Charbonner. In many layers of charcoal black, she captures an intriguing landscape. For her, transmission means passing on customs, grinding, and labouring hard, like the creation of and working with charcoal.

Atsuko Ishii

Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11 12:00-18:00

Exhibition

The delicate etchings of Atsuko Ishii lure the eye into a nostalgic world. Figures float straight from her imagination into a dream world coloured by beauty, animals and music. Ishii’s images have appeared in art books, media and sought-after editions. Sporen collects a selection in a first monography.

Goodies

Thu 21.11 + Fri 22.11 + Sat 23.11 + Sun 24.11

Goodies

The festival tends to fly by in the blink of an eye, but don’t fret: you can pick up some affordably priced goodies to take home with you. This year’s tote bag is designed by Kaye Blegvad (UK) and the ninth Grafixx portfolio gathers beautiful designs by eleven different artists. Find them, along with our […]