Interview for BLAI! a radio show presented by Maddi Castro and Ana Iruretagoiena broadcasted from Monday to Friday from 12 to 1pm in summertime in Euskadi Irratia.
SHOW DETAILS
Air date: 2018-VII-30
Language: Basque
Show duration: 53min 13s
Interview duration: 7 min 45s
AVAILABILITY
INTERVIEW by Maddi Castro & Ana Iruretagoiena
Hi, good morning.
Good morning, you are in Philadelphia?
Yes.
Why "Ian Nose", why that nickname?
Well, I was looking for a nickname and if you look closely, Ian Nose is my name with the letters moved around (laughs).
So you are playing, huh? Playing with the letters and the name. Ioannes, you are in Philadelphia but you are from Oñati.
Yes.
Would you define yourself as a cartoonist? Cartoonist, designer, illustrator, we've read many things about you...
Well, I started studying architecture... I went to Madrid to study architecture and then I finished in Puerto Rico, but I ended up in the Humanities School there so... When I draw comics I guess I'm a cartoonist and when I do other things, well, something else.
As we said, you are in Philadelphia but your works can be seen in the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Yes, that's correct.
Have you been there, have you been to Venice?
Yes, I've been to Venice. The thing is that apart from my comics, I also worked in the audiovisual shown on the Spanish pavilion.
And we can see your comic works there, I think the one displayed is Antxintxiketan, right? Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race.
Yes, they printed the first 25 pages of Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race on the walls. This year's proposal in the pavilion is to show the works of architecture students and all the works are organized by different hashtags; mine is in the space dedicated to 'narrative'.
So yours is under the 'narrative' category, Antxintxiketan. You mentioned that there's only a fragment on display. How many issues does this book have?
To this day I've published two issues, but it's an unfinished work, so this summer I will release the third issue and I hope to finish it in seven parts.
So there will be seven Antxintxiketan, Ian or Ioannes?
Ioannes is fine.
Apart from that, your work EdFramed is also shown in the Venice Architecture Biennale, have you seen it?
Yes, EdFramed is a daily comic strip I started back when I was in Madrid... So then after, I've collected and published it as booklets, so they also printed that on the fire emergency exit door. Forty-something strips.
So you are now in Philadelphia, your works are on display in Venice...how long have you been outside the Basque Country?
To be honest, many years. I left for Madrid when I was 18, and since then I come back for vacations and to visit the family, but since I was 18 so...now I'm 34...
In how many countries have your works been on display?
I like comics but I'm not very into the art scene. I prefer to make things that can be enjoyed by many, so I'm usually not looking forward to exhibitions. Since they're comics they can be seen anywhere, you can buy them or read them online.
And then you also have them on your website and we've seen you on Instagram under your nickname Ian Nose. You also lived in Puerto Rico, have you had any inspiration from your time there?
Yes, the last comic I published is a little bit about Puerto Rico, it's called It Also Rains in Puerto Rico. After I had settled in Philadelphia, a friend of ours came to visit -I'm married to a Puerto Rican- and one of her friends came to visit us, and she was working on an exhibition there and invited me to participate, so I did something about that, about the experience of living through the hurricane.
Ioannes the signal is weak, but let’s see if I understand...In which languages do you usually publish your works? In which languages do you write, Basque, Spanish, English...?
I usually try to do all my works in Basque first. For example, Antxintxiketan: The Democratic Race, is lightly based on the Spanish elections, so sometimes I write in Spanish first, but usually, I write and publish in Basque first and then translate to Spanish and English. If I get the chance, also to other languages.
Apart from comics, you've tried to translate some, I don't know...some audiovisual. I was told you're a fan of Dragon Ball.
Well yes, a long time ago...in 2011 we started a web project called Laino Mehe. We wanted to see what it'd be like to read Dragon Ball in Basque. So that's where it started, with me and my brother. We translated 2, 3 or 5 -I don't remember- chapters and other comics too... To be honest, the result was really satisfying, but since we don't own the rights of the works, we didn't want to keep going...it's not the proper way.
You also have a publishing house, Ioannes?
Yes, that's correct, to publish my works we came up with a publishing house and we called it Ahabi. So, yep, comics by Ian Nose and the publishing house: Ahabi Comics.
Ahabi Comics, Ian Nose, it's not easy or evident that you are behind it. When the Venice Biennale ends, do you have any project to which you're looking forward?
Yes. What I want now is to finish Antxintxiketan, because I don't like leaving things unfinished...but yeah, it's going to take me a while until I'm done with that. I'm already working on a project for 2019, another comic, but this time it won't be based on anything, so everything is going to be stuff I come up with. So I think it will flow more smoothly. I say smooth in the sense of making it monthly...my plan is to make a monthly comic.
You want to make a comic every month?
Yes, that's what I would like to do.
Well... Ioannes Busca, Ian Nose, thanks a lot and good luck!
Alright, thanks for having me!