Tobias Schalken & Stefan van Dinther - Dutch comic artists

[gius]

...A scene from their comic, CHRZ.
at http://www.eiland.cc

Animated version also available there.

 

[gius]

Some reviews from the same website...

Clifface Comics
Justin J. Fox

...This is a story about observation and the effects of the observer on the observed. It is about the way we try to shape experiments that aren't yeilding the results we want. It is about the way nature will find ways to confound those who try to tamper with her. It's about an active hand of god, of unalterable fate, about the way the stories we tell ourselves have a way of coming true.

The Comics Reporter
Bart Beaty

The book, which is wordless, follows a number of interweaving stories, generally featuring themes of love, loss, violence, alienation and loneliness. What is most striking about the work, however, is its formal complexity and adventurous spirit. Panels flow into other panels in unusual and highly complex manners. Van Dinther works to present simultaneity through sequentiality, and the book is constantly referencing its own narrative strategies. It is not enough to say that everything folds back onto itself in CHRZ, instead we have book that is complexly prismatic, a structure suggested by the point-of-view of the housefly that moves through the pages.
(...) it is clear that Stefan van Dinther has tossed down a gauntlet, producing a slick, smart, beautiful, but above all, difficult work that requires contemplation.

 

[gius]

Tobias Schalken's website
Also a fine artist and sculptor

Stefan van Dinther's website
Here is his comic, "Allow to Infuse."
source: allow-to-infuse.com

 

[gius]

There was also an exhibition of theirs at the lovely Lambiek place in Amsterdam. Here are the artists, with Lambiek's Kees Kousemaker

source: lambiek.net

Here's one link of theirs at Lambiek.net. You'll also find links to their biographies there. And as well, you can actually visit the online exhibition at Lambiek.net

 

[Estella*]

thanks for bringing this in gius! i have actually been looking for interesting comics lately as i think it's a great art form ... only it is very hard to get ones hands on more interesting stuff.
i really like the simplicity of these and how they work with panels!

i'll have a look at the links you posted.

 

[gius]

You're welcome*

Their websites are really something else.
You can watch animated versions of some of their comics there. The music that accompanies it is excellent and gives a completely different atmosphere to the work. It's nice when you watch it at night, in the dark. Very eerie~~