'Story Time' (Kutlul #0, Spring 2016).
Joost Halbertsma is an Rotterdam-based designer, mainly active with installing exhibitions for museums, artists and galleries. Together with fellow cartoonist Dirk Verschure, he released fifteen issues of the underground comic zine Kutlul (2016-2023).
Exhibitions
Born in 1984 in Wageningen in the Dutch province of Gelderland, Joost Halbertsma has a BA in Fine Arts from the St. Joost Academy in Breda. For several national and international museums and galleries, he has worked as a freelance exhibition builder and art installer. Among the comic-related shows he designed and produced have been ones about Peter Pontiac (Graphic Design Museum in Breda, 2011), Wasco (Graphic Design Museum in Breda, 2011), Kito (CBK Rotterdam, 2011), Dick Matena (Barcelona, Spain, 2011) and Barbara Stok (Van Gogh Museum, 2012).
Art projects
In addition to his daytime job, Halbertsma has been working on his own art projects in different types of media, including objects, posters, animated movies and photographs. However, drawing has remained the backbone of his work, with his art and sketches appearing in self-published "crapbooks", such as 'The Lost Pages' (2005), 'The Bitter, The Better' (2008) and 'Focus on the Future... Try Not To Panic' (2009). In addition to his personal projects, Halbertsman has done commission work. A notable project in 2012 was the new flyer for comic book shop Lambiek in Amsterdam, which coincided with the launch of the store's webshop. It was a good showcase of Halbertsma's underground style, and a wonderful overview of the store and gallery at the Kerkstraat 132 location, with several subversive cameos of comic book characters.
Front and back of the Lambiek flyer.
Kutlul
In the Spring of 2016, Halbertsma released the zero issue of the German-Dutch "mega-zine" Kutlul, along with Dirk Verschure, Annika Hauke and Niels Kalk. Presented as a "zine celebrating bad humor, weird comics and the pure joy of drawing", the magazine's title is a mash-up of the Dutch slang terms for "cunt" and "dick". With its two main editors based in Rotterdam (Halbertsma) and Berlin (Verschure), fifteen irregularly appearing and irregularly numbered issues appeared until 2023. Several of the release parties were held at Lambiek in Amsterdam, accompanied by beer, underground music and handmade cardboard store displays.
Among the many additional Kutlul contributors have been Naomi Taverdin, Felix Hauke, Ralph Schulz, Fufu Frauenwalh, Andy Leuenberg, Pedro Amaro, Lilith Peters, Mustafa Kandaz, Jan Huijben, Hendrik Nieuwenhuis, Marc Kolle, Vincent Zurwesten, Stanley van der Meer, Argibald, Marcel Ruijters, Maia Matches, Sidhi Achmat, Howlin' Quin de Vreede, Rogier Smal, Lisa Mckendrick & Tim Drage, Arno Pelzer, Pieter Zandvliet, Paralodia, Nicole van den Berg and Andy Leuenberger. The issue numbered #15 appeared in June 2023 with the subtitle "Goodbye Cruel World!".
Graphic contributions
For the December 2023 issue of the Swiss-German comic magazine Strapazin, an issue portraying several European comic stores, Joost Halbertsma was one of the six chosen artists to represent the Amsterdam store Lambiek with a two-page comic story.
Interior of the Lambiek flyer. From left to right: Heinz the cat (Windig & De Jong), Gaston Lagaffe (André Franquin), Tuitel (Wasco), Tom Poes and Olivier B. Bommel (Marten Toonder), Suske (Willy Vandersteen), Kapitein Rob (Pieter J. Kuhn) and Eric de Noorman (H.G. Kresse). From top to below: Asterix (René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo), Sjors & Sjimmie (Frans Piët), Gaga (Peter Pontiac), a Smurf (Peyo), Schanulleke (Willy Vandersteen), Cowboy Henk (Kamagurka & Herr Seele), Jopo de Pojo (Joost Swarte) and Wiske (Willy Vandersteen). The fighting cloud with the word "Zip" on it is Lambiek's logo, lifted from Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske' story 'Prinses Zagemeel'.