Zenzilla / Das Ritual
Nicolas Mahler
2017-2018
Artist Statement
Following my stay in Kyoto in 2015, I did a lot of brush and ink drawings about the clash of Zen-like silence and popular Japanese pop-culture imagery. Out of this came a silkscreen edition of my ZENZILLA, where I tried to combine the 2 topics. I also did a graphic novel based on these drawings, loosely inspired by the life of famed Japanese special-effects master Eiji Tsuburaya. The book is called Das Ritual.
The drawings made me revisiting old Japanese pop culture icons like Godzilla etc (which attracted me long before I actually got to visit japan), combined with the impressions I got from my Kyoto exhibition/visit, and my interest in Japanese brush drawing that came out of it.
Artist Bio
Born 1969 in Vienna, Austria. Works as a cartoonist for international newspapers and publishers. My books have been translated into over 10 languages.