Schalken & Van Dinther - Eiland (January 2001)

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26 January 2001

Galerie Lambiek proudly presented the vanguard young Dutch artists Stefan van Dinther and Tobias Schalken, starting 26 January 2001.

It was a splendid opportunity to have a fresh look at the works of these self-proclaimed 'masters of sequence' who lack neither ambition nor a fine sense of irony.

Schalken (1972) and van Dinther (1969) are widely seen as two of the most talented Dutch comics artists active today. With their self-published debut 'Eiland' (1997), they instantly made their name. Where the lot of their colleagues make their debut in existing magazines like Incognito and Zone 5300, Van Dinther and Schalken - then still joined by Eric van der Heijden - chose to immediately present their very own publication. It was clear from the start that they preferred to go their own way. On the level of content, Eiland stood out in comparison to other comics. Van Dinther's poignant graphic experiments surprised and Schalken's poetic paintings impressed. With the first Eiland, expectations were raised that were more than met by the follow-up second (self-published, 1998) and third Eiland (Bries, 2000). With every new Eiland, Schalken and Van Dinther kept on growing to new heights. This is vividly illustrated by their most remarkable contributions to the international comics anthology Comix 2000 from the renowned French comics publisher L'Association.

Since 'Eiland 3' was published in English, there has been international acclaim for the duo's talents.

"One of the most original and exciting comics I have read in a very long time," wrote Bart Beaty in The Comics Journal (#228).

The inventiveness and maturity that characterize the Eiland comics can also be seen in the duo's other works. Ever since their years at Breda art school Sint-Joost, Schalken and Van Dinther have been involved in other disciplines, like web design (Van Dinther) and interactive installations (Schalken). The exhibition featured a sample of these works next to the Eiland originals, and was on show in Galerie Lambiek through March 2001.