Graphic Constellation. Young Authors of Avant-Garde Comics

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Image courtesy of CCCB.

The exhibition is a tour through the universes of nine young female authors, and an exploration of all the changes that have radically modified the comics system, and have enabled the emergence of a constellation of avant-garde authors that combines the darkness of the uncertain present and future with the vitality of radiant colorism.

From the second decade of the 21st century, there have been staggered works published by very young female authors, most born from the 1990s onward. They share the expression of the same discontent and a desire to create a work in which graphic art and experimentation form the main structural element.

This constellation of independent but interrelated authors, who are drawn to each other, is the heir of their zeitgeist, which they have converted into the reason for their work. We could define this spirit of the time as that of the precarity suffered by the millennial generation, not only with regard to the economic and labor aspect, but also the emotional and sentimental one. The prolonged situation of uncertainty, which now seems established and has all the appearance of having become the new life model of the current economic order, is reflected in the work of these artists through a resigned pessimism present in the comics of each of them.

This pessimism may be manifested through traditionalism, ironic portrayal, escapism or nightmares and dystopia. In any event, they form part of a generation that is not waging war, that is not aggressive in the expression of its frustration or of its rage, that above all is simply trying to survive. For this reason, anxiety and insecurity are so present in their work, besides the problems and frustrations derived from lack of communication, despite living in a society hyper-connected by technology, which is omnipresent and threatening.

At the same time, their vitality is translated into a burst of color and visual force. The shared aesthetic denotes the proximity with graphic design, which contrasts with previous crops of alternative authors. As hybrid creators who combine comics with illustration, advertising and/or graphic design, their works reinforce each other ceaselessly and cannot be valued correctly without bearing these interconnections in mind. They have grown up with manga, despite it not being evident in their works, and with animation–above all that of the 1990s originating from the USA–which often becomes an aspirational goal, beyond being a source of inspiration.

Graphic Constellation is simultaneously a tour through the universes (in plural due to their hybrid nature) of these young female authors, and an exploration of all the changes that have radically modified the comics system in Spain and in Catalonia, and have enabled the emergence of a constellation of avant-garde authors that skillfully combines the darkness of the uncertain present and future with the vitality of radiant colorism.

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