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“Samplerman” exhibition opens in Germany this weekend

By John Freeman on December 9, 2022

Join comics archivist and acclaimed author Paul Gravett live online this Saturday, 10th December 2022, for an online conversation with Yvan Guillo, aka Samplerman, on the opening day of his immersive, experiential takeover of the Kunstraum Traube museum in Darmstadt, Germany.

Samplerman, Comic-Collages from Yvan Guillo

French cartoonist Yvan Guillo, aka Yvang, better known as Samplerman, has attracted worldwide attention with his comic collages. He started publishing comics in numerous fanzines in the early 1990s and has never stopped.

His work also includes some children’s comic books, some self-published and some through the éditions “Le Moule à Gaufres”. He’s running a shared Tumblr blog (with Léo Quievreux), “zdnd”, la zone de non-droit (the no-go zone) where he posts experiments, side projects and often unfinished works.

His digital collages of golden age American comics, labelled “Samplerman”, started there, and the warm feedback gave it a boost to go on.

In his capacity as curator of Illustratoren Darmstadt e.V., Volkmar Hoppe, owner of Kunstraum Traube, was already able to present Samplerman in Darmstadt in 2018, when the association presented French illustrator, in cooperation with the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Since then, Samplerman’s international fame has continued to grow: whether in the New York Times or in the Belgian art magazine Oogst, on book titles or album covers, his unmistakable style can be found. He also won the prestigious Prix de l’EESI in Angoulème in 2019.

*Putting the finishing touches to the Samplerman exhibition. Image: Kunstraum Traube*

In the exhibition there will be a room installation, as well as some of his latest collages. In addition, you can try out his computer game, “The Dead Migraine Army”, or immerse yourself in Samplerman’s cosmos with a collage generator.

On Saturday 10th December, Yvan will also give a lecture together with Volkmar Hoppe about the art-historical reference and his working method.

Paul’s chat with Yvan is also being recorded too for later viewing.

Volkmar Hoppe opened the Kunstraum Traube in September 2020 with his exhibition “Humming Shards”. The space hosts exhibitions of work by both German and international artists will be on display here, and the Traube art space should also be open to other art projects or workshops.

• Samplerman – Paul Gravett interviews Yvan Guillo 2.00pm GMT, 3.00pm Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm etc, Saturday, 10th December 2022 | Zoom Link here

• Follow Yvan Guillo on Instagram

• Samplerman, Comic-Collages from Yvan Guillo 10th December 2022 until 17th March 2023, weekends only, 2.00 – 6.00pm, Kunstraum Traube Darmstadt (Traube Art Space), Nieder-Ramstädter Strasse 28, 64367 Mühltal-Traisa | Tel: 06151-144166 | Email: art@kunstraum-traube.de.

Please note the museum is closed between 1st February – 4th March 2023, but arrangements for the holidays can be found later on the museum’s website: kunstraum-traube.de

Current information on the events in the Kunstraum Traube can also be found here: www.facebook.com/Kunstraum-Traube

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.