Car-Toon Mania

Car-Toon Mania：Exhibition by António  Martins

19-24/11/2014

Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery

Opening: 19/11/2014  18:30

Cocktail served

Free admission

Organizer: Rui Cunha Foundation

Why Cartoon？

It was a natural choice.  When I was very young I liked to draw cartoons to joke about life. My first cartoon published on the newspaper “A Província de Angola”, if I am correct, in 1959, and was about the traffic problems in Luanda.

Much more recently, I designed the cartoon of my own car, here in Macau. People started asking me to do more. I did. Many car-toons, as I call my cartoons about cars, were just designed and given to the people who had requested it. Only after a dread full series of cardiac problems, I had started doing the car-toons for my joy during the long recovering period at home in 2009. Many were being taken by the friends who liked it, but I designed more and more, and sometimes I reproduced some of the cartoons that I had given to my friends.

The result is more than 100 cartoons, including, cars, airplanes, people and animals, from which only 34 pieces are chosen to this exhibition.

I would like to thank Master Wu Lu Sheng who pushes me forward so much with his public appreciation for my design; Cartoonist Kristian who tells me not to stop designing, unless I lose my hands; all the friends in Rui Cunha Foundation and C&C Lawyers, who always believe in my work more than I do; and to the new director of ‘O Clarim” who believes in my works.

About the author

António Manuel dos Santos Ribeiro Martins was born in Luanda, Angola on 3rd Jan 1950 in a Portugese family. He studied graphic design and sculpture from his father. Martins’ father was graduated in architecture and sculpture at Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon and worked as Chief Architect from Public Works Department at Luanda.

Martins worked as a cartoonist at Newspaper “Correio do Povo” and “Zero Hora” in Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil in 1977-78. After his return to Lisbon, Martins designed ladies apparels and jewelry. He also worked as the Creative Designer for Jovitur – Edições Técnicas Limitada where he created a wide range of commercial gifts. In Macao, he worked as Graphic Designer for the Macau Tourism Office for 3 years and The Municipality of the Islands for 2 years. At the same time, Martins made paintings on Macau life, and cartoons of politicians, racing cars and animals – some of them were in private collections in Brazil and Portugal. Martins also created cartoons and illustrations for “A Tribuna”, “Ponto Final”, and “O Clarim”.

Participated exhibitions included collective exhibition at Luanda in 1967 and “Collective Design” at Porto Alegre-RS, Brazil where Martins was given two Honorable Mentions.