'Pros'. Translation: "How do you know that this is art?" - "One can SEE that!!" - "Well?! Alas, I don't see anything...".
Knut Kersse is a Belgian expressionist painter, sculptor, ceramist, puppet designer and cartoonist. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was briefly active as a comic artist and editorial cartoonist. His often surreal gag comics appeared in magazines like Knack, Brandpunt, De Nieuwe and the newspaper Het Volk, under titles like 'Pros', 'De Filosoof', 'Kor & Co' and 'Juul Vergrote'. Kersse additionally contributed iconoclastic satirical comics to Jan Bucquoy's magazine Spetters. In 1984, he collaborated with playwright Freek Neirynck on the one-shot comic book 'De Dag Na… Een Eeuw. Een Jaar. Een Dag. Een Futuraktualistisch Stripverhaal' (1984), which was also adapted into a play.
Early life and career
Knut Kersse was born in 1957 in Ghent, but grew up in Tielt. He studied at the Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent and took a course in ceramics at the same academy, under guidance of artist Marnix Hoys. During daytime, Kersse worked at the BPost, the Belgian postal office service in Kortrijk, sorting out mail. After hours, he did graphic design for the local paper Gazette van Tielt and the puppet niche magazine Poppenspel - Tussen Speelkruis en Speelplank. After getting married, Kersse moved to De Panne, at the Belgian coast, later moving to Bulskamp. Since 2018, he has been living in Nieuwpoort.
Cartoon by Knut Kersse.
Cartooning career
From the late 1970s on, Kersse was active as a cartoonist. Inspired by Kamagurka, his gag comics featured absurd, black anti-comedy, drawn in a nervous, scribbly style. Often featuring recurring characters, they ran in the newspaper Het Volk and, for an intellectual audience, in magazines like Knack (in the column 'Ooggetuigen'), Brandpunt and De Nieuwe. His character 'Juul Vergrote' was a strange man with glasses, a pointy beard and two long curly braids that stick out from both sides of his head. He holds absurd monologues that often end in non-sequiturs. The character stars mostly in one-page gag comics, but Kersse also drew a few longer narratives with him.
'Juul Vergrote'. Translation: "And when I can't fall asleep instantly, I first count postal numbers."
An even more surreal creation was 'De Filosoof', a long-haired, bespectacled philosopher who makes strange statements, intercut with newspaper cut-outs, with Kersse changing graphic styles in every panel. By far Kersse's wildest gag comic was 'Ko en Co', starring a man who can be described as a small-sized version of Juul Vergrote, since he shares almost the same design. The gags are so indescribably peculiar that characters change into different shapes in each panel, while strange things happen at random, without any clear punchline at all.
'De Filosoof'. Translation: "God is everywhere!" Hi, God! Except where he needs to be..."
By comparison, 'Pros' is a more straightforward gag comic about the humorous interactions between two mustached men in striped clothing. The shorter of the two, is a regular, simple-minded person, while the other is a tall, snobbish millionaire. Pros, the title character, is the son of the short-sized man. Most of the jokes deal with class differences.
'Kos & Co'. Translation: "Meanwhile, in a concentration camp on Neptune." (...) "I translate. One says: "Can't you watch out?! As a zoo keeper, it's recommended that you do this." Says the other one: "Sorry, Piet!".
A book with Kersse's cartoons was released, 'Met De Neus Op De Werkelijkheid: Cartoons van Knut' (Tieltse Pers, 1977), which had a foreword by political cartoonist Gerard Alsteens, AKA Gal. Some cartoons and comics by Kersse, available on his website, are dated as late as 1993-1995. They poke fun at various politicians of the day, including Belgian King Boudewijn/Baudouin, Albert II, Pope John Paul II and far-right politicians Filip Dewinter, Gerolf Annemans and Karel Dillen. However, it is unknown where they may have been published.
Spetters
In the early 1980s, Kersse contributed comics and cartoons to Jan Bucquoy's adult comic magazine Spetters. He drew the one-shot story 'Nonkel Kamiel and Pien', about a couple and their nephew Pien who take a highly unpleasant summer camp vacation. For a thematic issue about Belgian politics, Kersse contributed a few satirical comics ridiculing Prime Minister Wilfried Martens and other members of his cabinet, including Leo Tindemans, Willy De Clercq, Rika De Backer, Karel van Miert, Mark Eyskens and André Cools. He also drew a 'Tintin' parody for an issue published after Hergé's death, titled 'Kuifje in Parijs'.
Cover drawing for Spetters #8 (February 1982). The dancing trio are caricatures of Belgian politicians Mark Eyskens, Leo Tindemans and Willy De Clercq.
De Dag Na…
In 1984, Knut Kersse collaborated with the playwright Freek Neirynck on the comic book 'De Dag Na… Een Eeuw. Een Jaar. Een Dag. Een Futuraktualistisch Stripverhaal' (Honest Art Movement, 1984). The plot is set in a fictional country, Frontaria, covered in darkness after a war caused by rocket missiles. When puppet player Karageus arrives in Frontaria, he literally and figuratively brightens up the nation. At first, the people are happy, but when Karageus wants people to rise above themselves in resistance, they chase him out of the country, which is soon covered in darkness again.
'De Dag Na…' was an allegory on how art can improve society, but likewise be suppressed because of its power to inspire people. When Neirynck and Kersse made their story in the early 1980s, the Cold War heated up considerably and many people were afraid that the tensions between the USA and Soviet Union might escalate in the Bomb dropping one day. The protagonist, Karageus, was based on the Turkish shadow play puppet character Karagöz. Kersse presented the story with an experimental lay-out, using a combination of the balloon comics format, comics with text captions beneath the images and scenes with plain text. Sometimes the narration can be read vertically on the left or right side of the panels, or even upside down. Kersse and Neyrinck are also given a cameo on page 12, walking and discussing in the street.
'De Dag Na...'.
Although 'De Dag Na…' was exclusively intended for adults, all copies sold out. Two years later, Neirynck collaborated with Lyk De Bruyker from Theater Taptoe in Ghent to adapt the comic into a play for children, 'De Dag dat Karageus… (Aankwam)' (1986). The plot was simplified in order to appeal to the target audience. Kersse designed sets, puppets and made a few color illustrations that could be projected on a slide projector.
Neirynck later also collaborated with comedian Romain Deconinck as co-scriptwriter on another comic book adaptation of one of their plays, 'De Roâste Wassger' (1985), serialized in the newspaper De Gentenaar, drawn by Buth and Erwin De Bie.
Cartoon that won Knersse the 1979 Bi-Annual Award for Flemish Comedy.
Recognition
Knut Kersse was selected for the Rubens Cartoonale (1977) in Hoeilaart and the Humor Festival of Knokke. In 1979, Kersse received the Bi-Annual Award for Flemish Comedy ("Tweejaarlijkse Prijs van de Vlaamse Humor") for a cartoon about "city and country life". The drawing depicted two people playing checkers, one using trees, the other concrete buildings.
Later years
Later in his career, Kersse became more notable as a painter. He has referred to his style as "figurative expressionism". His work has often been exhibited, among others, between 19 December 1992 and 31 January 1993, in De Witte Beer gallery in Bruges.
A tri-lingual monograph about his work, made in 2010, is available for order on Kersse's website.
Knut Kersse.