For most of their lives, South African artists Conrad Botes and Anton Kannemeyer have kept journals and sketchbooks. Kannemeyer began his first journal at fourteen, and Botes remembers always having drawing books. They met at art school at the University of Stellenbosch in 1988, and for more than thirty years this creative pair has kept up their friendship and kept at their sketchbooks.
A unique publication brings together a collection of more than a thousand pages from their sketchbooks and journals. Often pigeonholed for their satirical comic Bitterkomix, what becomes striking in their new book is their range and sheer technical skill. Amid the biting satire for which they are known, different kinds of art emerge: spectacular portraits of writers, filmmakers, politicians, philosophers and friends; intimate drawings of their partners; many self-portraits; still lifes; illustrations of buildings; landscapes; and hundreds of pages that combine extraordinary penmanship and typography with art.
Bitterkomix Sketchbooks and Journals is the launch title of Painted Dog Press, a new independent book publisher of fiction and non-fiction. Spearheaded by Fourie Botha (previously from Penguin Random House SA) and John Hunt (TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris), the press will develop and nurture quality literature and provide writers with a publishing house that continually fosters and markets their work. Painted Dog’s efforts are strengthened by tech innovation and human-first technology provided of PlusNarrative.
