"The Auld Acquaintance" Exhibition

From the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio.

Logo design by Danny Cardle

2014 marks the 15th anniversary of political devolution in Scotland. It also happens to be the 15th anniversary of the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio. In the coming months the people of Scotland will consider and finally vote upon the matter of independence. It has been noted by many commentators that the constitutional debate has lacked humour; we at the Studio thought we could do something about that. After all, what would politics be without political cartoons?

The Auld Acquaintance is a new exhibition that gathers together artwork not only by the team at the Studio but also our friends from the Scottish and UK press as well as cartoonists across the globe. Caricatures, editorial cartoons and comic strips are featured, many never before exhibited. All contributors have been asked to think about the same question that will be put to Scottish voters on the 18th of September: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

Some artists have focused on the leading personalities of the debate while others have looked at Scotland’s place within the UK, Europe and the wider world. Some cartoons are savagely satirical while others are light-hearted, even whimsical. An equal portion of contributions are for independence, against and neutral on the subject. All sides of the debate are represented. But all take a look at the Scottish question through the prism of humour.

There will be three opportunities to view The Auld Acquaintance around Europe in 2014.

The first will be at the Espace Loup, Centre Permanent de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour, St.Just-le-Martel, France from the 11th of April to 14th of August. The Scottish Cartoon Art Studio Co-ordinator, Terry Anderson and fellow Studio team member Tommy Sommerville will attend an opening ceremony on the 10th of April.

The show will also be seen in Scotland this summer and Catalonia, Spain in the autumn.

Further announcements about the venues and dates for the later showings as well as ancillary events (talks, workshops etc) will be made later in the year. Please be sure to keep an eye on our blog, our Facebook page and Twitter feed for more information.

We received submissions from over 100 artists across 37 nations. We’re grateful to all who have supported this project over the last six months. Contributing cartoonists include: Brian Adcock, Terry Anderson, Évelyne Arcouette, Érico Junquiera Ayres, Guy Badeaux (Bado), Gary Barker, Steve Bell, Pau Bosch i Crespo, René Bouschet, Frank Boyle, Steve Bright (Brighty), Carlos Brito, Dave Brown, Chris Cairns, Steven Camley, Arnau Torrente Capdevila, Jaume Capdevila (Kap), Danny Cardle, Jesús Carreño, Radu Cletiu (Clear), Christian Daigle (Fleg), Andy Davey, Vincent Deighan (Frank Quitely), Christian Fedele, Jordi Fenosa (Tatay), Brian Flynn, Norberto Elder García (Jericles), Aidarbek Gazizov, Miquel Fernandez Gras, Derek Gray, Iain Green, Scott Griffin, Willem Henkes, Uschi Heusel, Bill Houston, Mykola Kapusta, István Kelemen, David Kerr, Jospeh Laquerre, George Licurici, Nikola Listes, Ranald MacColl, Graeme MacKay, José Manuel (Napi), Ferran Martin, Malc McGookin, Cinders McLeod, Valeriy Mohylnyy, Greg Moodie (Tony Boaks), Terry Mosher (Aislin), Xavier Carrasco Muria (Bié), Urmas Nemvalts, Recep Özcan, Sylvain Pongi, Enrigue Pérez Penedo, Øyvind Sagåsen , Miguel Villalba Sánchez (Elchicotriste), Igor Smirnov, Jirí Srna, Chris Sommerville, Tommy Sommervile (Somme), Pawel Stanczyk, Bertrand Thieret (l’Amiral), Ross Thomson, Ermengol Tolsa, Carlos Villafranca (Tres), Chris Watson, Hui Xiaoyong


Here are the cartoons I submitted to the exhibition:

Bado, Le Droit, October 22, 2012

Bado, Le Droit, January 14, 2013