Aart Clerkx is a Dutch underground artist, also known under his pen name, Acé. He was born in 1945 in Wassenaar, north of The Hague, only a month after World War II ended in occupied Holland.
ME Man (1980)
Aart Clerkx began his comics career in 1970 with some illustrations and short stories for Aloha. He worked for this magazine until 1974, and his best known character of this period is 'Jan Tit'. He additionally made satirical comics for Tante Leny Presenteert and he had a daily comic called 'Jan en Wim' in the Dutch journal Trouw, which served as an attraction for new subscribers. Clerkx also filled the back pages of De Nieuwe Linie, and contributed to Avenue and Nieuwe Revue.
Hamlet
During the 1970s, he drew for alternative magazines like Furore, Inkt and Poezenkrant, and published a black and white comic book called 'Hamlet'. Aart Clerkx was one of the artists involved in the 'Toon en Toos Brodeloos' strip, which a team of seven artists produced in 1976 for VPRO-Gids, the magazine of broadcasting company VPRO. Each episode was a satirical story about one of the Dutch broadcasting companies, drawn by a different artist. Clerkx did the one about VARA, while the other artists were Joost Swarte (AVRO), Evert Geradts (KRO), Joost Troost (EO), Rob Gorter (NCRV), Harry Buckinx (VPRO) and Fred Julsing (TROS). The stories were collected in a book by Har van Fulpen's Drukwerk in 1976. In the 1980s, he worked for the Dutch underground magazines Gummi, De Vrije Balloen and De Balloen ('Jan Klaassen'), and for Gezellig & Leuk, where he published 'Doodverf'.
De Intocht van Christus in Amsterdam, an epic poem by Bindervoet & Henkes, illustrated by Aart Clerckx
He published books like 'ME Man', 'Jan Klaassen' en '10 Jaar Crisis' with the publisher Espee. In the past decade, Aart Clerkx has mainly been active as a painter. In 2006, he returned to the comix scene with the comic book 'Dit en Dat', published by Oogenblik. He is also illustrating Shakespeare plays for the translations by Bindervoet & Henkes.
Aart Clerkx artwork in the 250th issue of Stripschrift