Artists-in-Residence in the pages of the Denbighshire Free Press

'Zoë', catroon strip by Grennan & Sperandio.

Artist duo Grennan & Sperandio have created 10 comic strip portraits of Denbighshire life. Focusing on ten local people who all take the ‘Denbighshire Free Press’ newspaper, they have created a snapshot of life across North Wales.

Zoë, one of the ten Denbighshire people who worked with Grennan & Sperandio on the new comic strips, commented: “It’s fab to see myself as a cartoon character – it’s like me, but more so! I’m really pleased with the strip. It captures a bit of my life forever.”

The strips will be printed weekly on Thursdays in the Denbighshire Free Press from 22 May – 24 July. The works will also be exhibited, as part of the Llangollen Fringe Festival, during 17 – 28 July at Y Capel in Llangollen. Framed artworks will be given to each participant at a special celebratory event at the Capel on 28 July. The project has been funded by Safle.

“Getting to know Denbighshire has been inspiring and great fun. We’ve met all sorts of people in the course of making these ten cartoon strips and we hope that a little bit of the variety, humour and character of the County comes across in our work. We’ve made artwork all over, from New York to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with all sots of people. The ‘Little Histories’ cartoon strips are up there with the best. We hope that more Denbighshire people – readers of the strips – will recognize aspects of their County and their own bit of history in our work.”
Grennan & Sperandio

Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio have been working exclusively together as artists since 1990. Their projects are well known internationally for mixing direct public participation with thought-provoking, challenging and entertaining end results. Past projects include “Modern Masters” commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art (2001), a comic book made with visitors and staff at the Museum and “We Got It!” (1993), a three-year project with the unionised workforce of a Chicago chocolate factory, resulting in the mass-production, distribution and sale of a community-designed and made chocolate bar. They are just about to begin a major project in Wrexham’s Caia Park and the second series of their US Television show “Artstar” airs in late summer this year.