SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 26 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The exhibition ‘Morgan according to Morgan’ has been inaugurated this Tuesday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, where the particular political and social analysis of Juan Jesús Verdú Medina, a graphic humorist better known as ‘J. Morgan’, is shown in more than 200 cartoons that They will remain on display at the headquarters of the regional Chamber until next November 14.
In the opening ceremony, the President of Parliament, Gustavo Matos, highlighted the importance of graphic humor in society. “If someone wanted to review what has happened in the Canary Islands in recent years, they can perfectly do so through these vignettes thanks to Morgan’s audacity,” he said.
Likewise, Gustavo Matos recalled the long tradition of Spain in this branch of art: “In our country there are great cartoonists who have made history. This genre is also part of our democratic system of freedoms and there lies a large part of its importance.”
The president pointed out that these “fantastic vignettes” by Morgan reach Parliament in a legislature in which it is committed to an institution that is also a meeting point for ideas, thought, art and culture, coinciding with the commemoration of 40 years of parliamentarism in the Canary Islands . He also highlighted that the Chamber collaborates with the Tenerife Comic Fair, the organizer of the exhibition, as this discipline is “a form of art and cultural expression”.
In the event, Francisco Pomares, president of the Foundation for the Promotion and Study of Narrative in Images Cine + Cómic and curator of the exhibition, stressed that Morgan is “one of the best cartoonists in the Canary Islands, who knows how to analyze the political situation from a social perspective on graphic humor “. He recalled that this is the third time that the Comic Fair has exhibited works related to political vignetting in Parliament and thanked the author for facilitating access to his collection for this exhibition.
For his part, Juan Jesús Verdú Medina ‘Morgan’ explained that there are two essential functions of the press vignette: stimulating the opinion of readers through humor and its social function. “Helps to bring out social conscience.”
‘MORGAN ACCORDING TO MORGAN’
‘Morgan according to Morgan’ is part of the XVIII International Comic and Illustration Exhibition of Tenerife, which started on October 22 and will run until November 14. The exhibition consists of more than 200 vignettes.
This exhibition shows some of the most iconic cartoons published in the Canary Islands7 by this humor artist, awarded the 2006 Pedro Marcelino Quintana Prize for Journalism, the Fundación Colectivo Mafasca Cultural Merit Award 2011 or the Instituto Canario de Igualdad Award for the best initiative in the media 2014.
In this edition, the Comic Fair is made up of 30 exhibitions in five of the eight islands, as well as virtual exhibitions, online talks, face-to-face talks, contests and other activities.
JUAN JESÚS VERDÚ MEDINA
Juan Jesús Verdú Medina ‘J. Morgan’ (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1963) is a graphic humorist member of the Canary Association of Graphic Humorists and Cartoonists ‘Se nos fue el baifo’.
For more than three decades he has daily illustrated the current affairs of the islands, with such recognizable characters as Ayoze or Carmelo. His specialty is capturing everyday life and transmitting the strong Canarian accent with ink. In his vignettes, the critical sense of his messages stands out and they are a peculiar way of provoking the ‘mental smile’ of readers, helping to generate states of opinion. The function of dissemination and awareness of his work stands out.
He began publishing his cartoons of graphic humor in Canarias7 in 1983 and continues to do so today, in its print and digital edition, as well as in the weekly magazine C7. Morgan’s vignettes are also present in communication, awareness-raising and publicity activities of companies and institutions.
He also teaches introductory workshops to humorous drawing in associations, entities and educational centers that request it or conferences and ‘vignettes’ to disseminate the role of the press vignette as a journalistic genre.
