18/04/2013 00:00
TW
0
By Humphrey Carter

PHOTO: J. TORRES
THIS Friday night an exhibition of works of art by the political cartoonist for the Bulletin's sister paper Ultima Hora opens at the El Temple Gallery in Palma.

Colleague Pep Roig has been producing his daily editorial comment drawings for the past 40 years, during which time he has also worked as a journalist for the newspaper. He is very proud to have been able to have “stopped the presses” one night when a pitched battle broke out between the police and protesting members of the Emaya water board many years ago.

The exhibition “Pep Roig 40 years of humour” does not only feature a collection of many of his cartoons, some in black and white, others in colour, but also pieces from a collection of his many varied works of art from paintings to sculptures. “I've been setting up the exhibition myself and I can best describe the scene as chaos,” he said yesterday. “It's not like any normal exhibition,” he added.
The exhibition layout appears to mirror his Palma studio. “My wife refuses to come in, she calls it Son Reus and warns me that one day all the creatures inside will kill me,” he laughs.
But, what is Majorcan humour? Roig said that it is very “closed”, mainly because it is an island population. “It can be very rural, very coarse and noisy but at the same time it is also very literary and some great humour books have been written. “There are also some very funny songs out in the villages,” he said. “But, I love British humour. The sarcasm and the parody. “More recently I thought Little Britain was fantastic, so well done and things like Fawlty Towers are real classics,” he added. “The great thing about parody is that we all know the characters in real life. “I think Majorcan humour needs to open up a bit but, when was the last time you saw a really funny film. “Humour is very difficult and I think that's why many film-makers stay clear of it because if it fails, it crashes badly. “Make a drama, add a crying terrified young girl, the audience is crying and bingo, it's drama,” he added.
Interestingly, Roig believes that laughter is only part of humour. “I get stopped in the street by people who tell me they love the cartoons because they get the messages and it makes them laugh, others claim they just love my art....” Both are compliments considering that at school, Roig would skive off from art classes because he wanted to be painting other things. “I enrolled at various art colleges but never got further than the third class,” he explained. “That's why I will flit from one style to another.” Roig was obviously born with an amazing natural talent but his school, both for his art and his journalism, has been on the streets of Majorca and, on his admission, the environment of the Ultima Hora publishing group. “Since my first submission was accepted 40 years ago, I've never been censored, I've enjoyed complete freedom to comment on what I wanted and Chairman Pedro Serra was always so full of energy and that has rubbed off on all of us who have worked here over the years. “Plus, as we're surrounded by such a varied and great collection of art I couldn't help but get immersed in the whole process of the media and art,” he said. “Being a political cartoonist through the transition was very exciting, the end of Franco and the birth of democracy. None of us really knew in which direction the country was going and there was plenty to comment on. “Here at the offices we were getting two bomb threats a day but the current situation here in the Balearics is very frustrating. “After the transition I thought we would learn and politics would become a vocation but the opposite has happened and it's a big deception. “Politicians are supposed to inspire us but, to be honest, the political scene is all a bit boring at the moment and it certainly is not very funny....”