門當弗對 / ELSEWHERE
As the first book published under Kinakaal (Chinese cabbage) publisher, a publication project initiated by Sino-Norwegian cultural organisation Northing, we chose independent comic art because it’s a universal visual language that conveys profound information independently of words. Two artists from the two countries, Norwegian comic artist Fredrik Rysjedal and Chinese comic artist Shuo Wang (also known as anusman) made stories on the same topics, using radically different structures, narratives, and styles. Readers will be able to read the stories side by side, thus get a general idea of the relatively ordinary lifestyles of those living in China and those in Norway, and see both the differences and the sometimes astonishing similarities.
FOUR TITLES, EIGHT STORIES : Elsewhere contains eight stories by the two artists on four common titles. You can read the stories of the same title side by side to have a glimpse into the differences and similarities of the two cultures. The four titles are: Animals around us, The elderly, Storage, and Go for a stroll. Besides those quite obvious cultural differences, there are also some coincidences and similarities that surprised even the artists themselves. For example, both artists drew seniors doing gymnastic exercises to stay young and healthy.
Fredrik Rysjedal is more than 2 metre tall. When we first met he reminded me of Bluto, Popeye's nemesis and arch-rival. Later I found that under his rugged and robust appearance there was also tenderness and sensitivity. Besides creating comics in the traditional manner with paper and pencil, or ink, he also explores the potential of comic art on new medias and introduces comic art into the theatre as a new form of performance. All these experiments comprised his artistic research in the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD) of the University of Bergen, which entitled him the first PhD in comic art in Norway. But regardless of technique or media, Fredrik’s comics would touch the reader directly with their story. When he is not drawing, Fredrik is also running Pamflett - a Riso studio and gallery. He’s also one of the founders of Bergen Art Book Fair and the chief editor of Numer - a major art magazine in Norway. We are really grateful for his contribution in spite of his tight calendar.
Both Fredrik and Shuo are the only Doctor degree holders in comic art in each of their own countries, which makes them the perfect match for each other. What makes this book special is that there is no back cover, but front covers on both sides. If you open the book the way you do to a normal one, you’ll be reading the stories by Fredrik; but if you open the book the way you do to a traditional Chinese book or a Japanese manga, you’ll be reading Chinese - I mean Chinese comics by Shuo. Two artists depicted their most handy tools, also with their most handy tools, pencil and ink brush. A subtle detail which også costed us some extra pennies in the production was that the two covers were printed on two different kinds of paper, that folded and met in the middle of the spine, with our logo - a naked Chinese cabbage printed across them.
Shuo Wang is also called anusman in China, which is not a nom de plume, but a character he created. But because the character was a hit, it became his doppelgänger. He was shy and modest the first time we met, quiet in a polite manner. I understood that he would express himself much more through his comic works, and anusman did communicate to the world on his behalf, together with other characters he once created. Later through our friend we got to know that he is also the only PhD in comic art in China. This fact sparked the idea of a cooperation with Fredrik to explore the differences between the two countries through comic art and stories about daily life.
TIME, A POINT OR A LINE : At Unfold Shanghai Art Book Fair, both artists shared their methods and approaches. Fredrik said hes used a quite popular method in the nowadays western comics which is called be in the present. He drew inspirations from the places where he was the moments he was creating the comic pieces. To put it simple, he drew wherever he went. That’s why he marked under the titles also the locations, which were also the locations of the stories. His stories took places in like New Ålesund in the far north, Stord where his father-in-law lives, and Bergen where he lives. He was in a artists’ residency program in New Ålesund near the North Pole when he was drawing Animals around us and Go for a stroll, and the protagonist in The elderly was actually his father-in-law. This be-in-the-present style made the stories so intriguing that the readers could almost share the experience of the artists. The stories usually last only a couple of minutes, sometimes seconds, and the longest no more than one hour.
But in the works of Shuo, time was usually dragged long or sometimes disappeared totally. In Animals around us, kids grew up gradually into adults; An old women and an old men wandered around in the city in The elderly which could be the story of any elderly on any day; and in Go for a stroll the scenario became the protagonist, figures moving endlessly in the scenario, but time just disappeared.
INDIVIDUALITY AND COLLECTIVITY: The most distinguished cultural differences in the comic stories might not have been noticed by the two artists themselves. Fredrik’s stories were mainly about one specific character, doing somehow something special. There’s almost no trace of generality in the narratives. On the other hand, Shuo was kind of generalising the cultural characteristics in his stories, which could reflect the behaviour of most common Chinese people. I don’t know if this represents the biggest difference between the Chinese and Norwegian cultures, or maybe even the western and eastern cultures…
ABOUT KINAKAAL: As a publication project initiated by Sino- Norwegian cultural organisation Northing, Kinakaal publisher wanted to open up new possibilities for dialogue and cooperation between different artists from the two countries, explore different cultural (visual, independent, academic, unknown, etc.) dimensions. Kinakaal means Chinese cabbage in Norwegian, which is the most common vegetable you find in a Norwegian supermarket. It could be the most direct connection a common Norwegian people has with the word Kina (China). That’s why Northing named it’s publishing house Kinakaal, and hope to inspire discoveries of such subtle connections in disguise between the two remote cultures.