Small Hall of «Manege»
nab. kan. Griboedova, 103 (m. Sadovaya, Sennaya ploshchad)
+7 (812) 312-25-54, www.manege.spb.ru
Opening hours: wed-sun 12.00-20.00, mon-tue closed

September 27 – October 14

Line Hoven was born in 1977 in Bonn. Having worked as an assistant of a costume designer and set designer at the State Theater of Kassel, she began studying visual communication at an art school. Two years later she transfered to the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg), to the Department of illustrations to study under acomplished teachers such as Anke Feuchtenberger and Atak. It was then that she started to work in scratchboard method, a difficult drawing technique that she has remained faithful to ever since.

Currently Line works as a freelance illustrator and makes comics. Her graphic novel Liebe schaut Weg was published by the Berlin publishing house Reprodukt and won the prize for the best independent comic in 2008 at the largest German comics festival in Erlangen. This is an autobiographical story in which Line talks about her family – parents and grandparents, whose roots are in Germany and the U.S.. When her mother and father fell in love with each other, it turned out that during the Second World War, their fathers fought on opposing sides, and both of them were against this union. Using the memories and stories of her relatives, Line creates a novel which incorporates both historical background and very personal episodes.

www.linehoven.de

Small Hall of the Central Exhibition Hall Manege
103, Griboedov canal embankment (m. Sadovaya, Sennaya Square)
+7 (812) 312-25-54, www.manege.spb.ru
Hours of operation: Wed-Sun 12.00-20.00, Mon-Tue closed

September 27 – October 14

Alim Velitov was born in 1977 in Moscow. In the late eighties when he was in school, he drew fake dollars, recorded all movies viewed in a video saloon in a notebook and wrote reviews for them. At that time the French Communists moved across the border an edition of their comics magazine «Pif» and the event has changed Alim’s life forever. At that moment he started drawing comics, and has not stopped since.

At the age of 13 Alim joined the comic studio «Com», which at the time was a gathering venue for all the fans of comic strips of Moscow. In 1992 his first comic strip «The plundering of state property» was published in the magazine «Screen for kids». After graduating from high school he enrolled at the Moscow International Film School, but in 1995 he was expelled from there. However Alim continued his education in film and in 2001 graduated from the VGIK (the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography) workshop «Film expert – Critic».
In the 2000’s he created several animated films and a video for singer Oleg Gazmanov, which was banned from broadcasting.

Since 2002, Alim is a regular participant of the comics festival «KomMissia», which takes place in Moscow. In 2006 he won the prize «Grand Script» for the comics «Black ATM machine». In 2004 he published his own comic strip collection «Indulgence”, and from 2005 to 2009 acted as chief editor of comic strips collection «Almanac of comic strips». In addition, Alim is one of the creators of comics-club; he constantly conducts master classes for young authors. Alim has participated in many group exhibition projects, and this spring he had a solo exhibition in Stockholm.

Blog of artist – 

velitov.livejournal.com

The Nabokov Museum
47, Bolshaya Morskaya street, (m. Admiralteyskaya)
+7 (812) 315-47-13, www.nabokovmuseum.org
Hours of operation: Tue-Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat-Sun 12.00-17.00, closed Mon

September 27– October 14

Anna Sommer was born on May 13, 1968 in Aarau (german part of Switzerland). In the early 1990s, she moved to Zurich and received her artistic education there. Not only is Anna the author of comic strips published by the most interesting contemporary comics magazines (Strapazin, Lapin, Kramers Ergot …), she also creates illustrations for a number of Swiss and French newspapers (Annabelle, Vibrations, L’Imbécile, Libération, Die Zeit, Femina …) . The artist has been successfully working for more than twenty-five years in such diverse techniques as drawing, printing and paper collaging, as well as creating rag dolls.

Her drawings are minimalistic and detailed at the same time: there is nothing superfluous, but the things that give meaning and flavor to the story are always drawn with special thoroughness. In the preface to the book «Amourettes» the writer Milena Moser remarks: «Anna Sommer knows how to to distinguish principal from the secondary.”

In 1997, at the festival of comics in the city of Sierre Anna Sommer received a prize of humor (prix de l’humour), and in 2006 – the prize of the city of Zurich (Werkjahr Comics der Stadt Zürich).

www.annasommer.ch

The Centre of Art and Music of Mayakovsky’s library
Nevskiy pr. 20 (m. Nevsky prospekt)
+7 (812) 571-77-77, www.pl.spb.ru
Opening hours: mon-fri 11.00-20.00, sat 11.00-18.00, sun closed

September 28 – October 12

José Muñoz was born in Buenos Aires in 1942. Ever since childhood he showed great passion for drawing, especially comics. At age 12 he went to study at an art school Escuela Panamericana de Arte, where he was taught by masters of comic art such as Alberto Breccia and Hugo Pratt. At the same time, he studied drawing, sculpture and painting in the studio of the artist Humberto Cerantonio.

At 18, Muñoz became an assistant of Francisco Solano López and illustrated the stories of famous writer and screenwriter Héctor Oesterheld for the magazines Hora Cero and Frontera. In addition, he drew several episodes of Ernie Pike, the comic book series by Hugo Pratt.

In 1972, Munoz left for professional reasons – first he went to London and later moved to Milan. The military dictatorship that began in 1974 did not allow him to return home, and he stayed in Europe. At that time he met Argentine writer Carlos Sampayo which led to their fruitful collaboration that continues to this day. Together, they have created more than 15 books, that became part of the golden fund of the world of comics. These books have been reprinting many times. The authors’ most famous series, Alack Sinner, was first published in 1975 in Italy and then later in France. The last book in the series was published in 2006.

In 2007, Muñoz won the Grand Prix at the biggest European festival, which takes place in Angouleme, France, once again demonstrating the level of his success and contribution to the culture of comics.

www.josemunozdessins.com

Art centre «Nevsky 8»
Nevskiy pr, 11 (m. Admiralteyskaya)
+7 (812) 314-80-81, www.nevsky8.com
Opening hours: mon-sun 11.00-21.00

September 28 – October 14

Varvara Pomidor was born in Leningrad in 1975. Having started painting at an early age, she then graduated from Nicholas Roerich Art College, and later from the Department of Graphic Design of Saint-Petersburg Mukhina Art Academy. She also attended the course of printmaking and photography in the Georg-Simon-Ohm-Fachhochschule in Nuremberg, Germany. During her study she took up illustration art – she created a series of drawings for the book of Lev Rubinstein “Life is Everywhere.”

Upon graduation, Varvara worked as art director in the design studio Mediamama. But having gradually moved away from design, she went into creation of graphic series. The distinguishing feature of the series was their long names, which consisted of quotations taken from the literary works of different authors, or from her own random notes. At some point the quotes became incorporated in the graphic element of her works. That way, Varvara Pomidor came to work on comics. Within this genre, she participated in many international projects: creative residencies, exhibitions, festivals, drawing contests and graphic performances.

Some of her stories were published as separate books or as part of collections: “We just did not say a word,” “Truth”, “Rennes-Peter”, “Story Number 3”, “To the ocean”. For each of her stories, Varvara chooses a matching expressive language. Thus for example, she had the idea to create three-dimensional characters for the story “Russian Forest” and in her story “Truth” she drew the story on old newspapers. Many of these works will be presented at the author’s personal exhibit at Boomfest, for which Varvara has developed a logo and corporate identity.

www.varvarapomidor.ru