Mette Ambeck and Mike Nicholson
Mette Ambeck
Herlev, Denmark
Mette Ambeck continues to produce work that reflects both traditional Danish craft skills and her own graphic design sensibilities.
She presents narratives, often humorously surreal, and all contained in hand-made volumes showing a characteristically deft creative
touch and attention to detail. In her parallel guise as ‘Robo-Girl’ she has occasionally injected her work with her influences from movies
(Tim Burton and Jacques Tati included) and the pop culture tradition of Robots (from 1950’s tin toys to even stranger manifestations in
comic books and sci-fi). Her gorgeous limited edition books ‘Boy Meets Girl’ (2000) and the bouncing baby sequel ‘Boy Met Girl’ (2003)
- see her own website link – already reflected this obsession, but, when joining forces with partner Mike Nicholson, the long-term
fascination took another strange form when they created the jointly illustrated/written ‘Cog and Balls’ (2003).
Enjoy the new glimpses into the rocky relationship between her creations and Nicholson’s character Ron in this new Bookmarks V
range and at the Cog and Balls Blog www.cogandballs.blogspot.com. . .
Mike Nicholson
London, UK
Mike Nicholson's work under the banner of Ensixteen Editions, begun in 1999, proceeds apace. Comics writer and historian Roger
Sabin has stated that the work “is at the high-end of small-press publishing. . . extremely well-drawn and often spectacularly amusing.”
The output takes two distinct forms: In the 'bio auto graphic' strand he circles his past, present and future - covering the seemingly
insignificant and fantastically rare in matters of life, love, relationships and society. Triggered by a challenge from comedian and
writer Charlie Higson, Nicholson has developed a revealing and occasionally near the knuckle confessional which continues to turn
unexpected corners and find strange new truths under old rocks. (See images and other material from ‘bio auto’ at the Cog and Balls Blog.)
In the series of editions featuring Nicholson’s long-term alter-ego ‘Ron’ he has exorcized a pantheon of demons over the years, from the
virtually unreadable early A4-size editions (an analyst would have had a field-day) to more recent A5 pocket editions. Obsessions with
language, obscure show business references, words like ‘fox’, ‘oxygen’ and the ever-present ‘corduroy’ all persist. The character has most
recently surfaced in the ‘Ensixteen Editions Seasonal Range’, actually sharing the page with the artist himself in a ground-breaking
mixed-media narrative indulgence. Nicholson’s shared project with Mette Ambeck, ‘Cog and Balls’ (2003) revealed a previously unseen
back-story behind Ron’s long feud with The Robotic Community, and now continues here with the new Book marks 5 C & B series.
Will the tin brethren ever reach a true understanding with the long-headed Big Town boy? Now read on. . .
Cog and Balls - the background
The original ‘Cog and Balls mini-comic’ was the first collaboration by Englishman Mike Nicholson and Danish Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck,
co-exhibitors at various UK and non-UK artist’s book fairs since 2000. The story outlined the meeting between Nicholson’s Ron
character and a weird collection of Ambeck’s robotic creations, and the surprising links that surface between them all during some rocky days
in Big Town. Ambeck and Nicholson are using the Bookmarks 5-linked work here to further the story of C & G, with more to come.
Don’t miss out. . .
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