MRR Comics & Art Issue Artist Q&A with Luca Retraite
This month’s MRR magazine is the Comics & Art Issue! Throughout March we are highlighting some of the participating artists right here on MRR.com. Today we hear from Luca Retraite from Strasbourg, France.
What are your main publishing projects?
I have a comic called Poupy out. It’s a split comic with Pierre Ferrero’s Isaac Neutron. It’s the story of a dog and its master. They live in a strange world and are a bit cruel to each other. Still available at Arbitraire Editions. Poupy is now published in each issue of La Corde. I am also part of a collective called Psoriasis, we put a big zine out every year. I draw gig posters and record covers for the bands I play in. I still like to put out my own Xeroxed zines, but I haven’t had so much time to do it these last few months… Oh and there’s a split zine with Fabio Viscogliosi coming out soon, printed by my friend Pierre at Gargarismes Editions. It’s called Belvederes. It’s a collection of weird landscapes.
What are some of your artistic influences?
It’s really hard to sort out a few influences, there are so many. Here are a few names in no particular order: Mattt Konture, Pakito Bolino, Mark Beyer, Kamagurka and Seele, JM Bertoyas, Robert Crumb, Pascal Doury and Bruno Richard, Rory Hayes, Herge, Mike Diana, Fabio Viscogliosi, Moebius, Jean Pleyers, Carl Barks, Ivan Brunetti…
Musical influences?
NTM, Brainbombs, Flipper, No Trend, Serge Gainsbourg, Wu Tang Clan, Suicide, Zero Kama, Missing Foundation, Burzum, the Seeds, les Olivensteins, Spacemen 3, E.A.R., Esplendor Geometrico, Rhys Chatham, DNA, Mars, Captain Beefheart, DAF, Stooges, NEU!, Les Rallizes Denudes, Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Jesus and Mary Chain, la Grande Triple Alliance Internationale de L’est… I’ll stop here, it could go on endlessly. I also listen to more and more hip-hop and traditional music (mostly from Maghreb, but also from Turkey, Bali, Thailand, Iran, Iraq…).
How would you describe your style of drawing?
I never thought about this before… let’s say I try to draw dirty stuff in the cleanest way possible.
What other punk projects are you involved with?
I play music in a few bands, it’s as important for me as drawing. I currently play in Sida, Ventre De Biche, Charnier, the John Merricks, Ass, Au Bout De Mon Sang, Motif Python… I also book shows, mostly in a basement we’re not supposed to book shows in.
What’s in the future for you as a cartoonist/artist?
My friend Thierry (Charnier, Année Zéro, la Course Á la Mort…) recorded Ventre de Biche, one of my solo projects, this summer. It’s gonna come out as a LP with a book of drawings to look at while listening to the record. I’m also working on a special Poupy issue (inspired by a legendary French comic for kids called Pif Poche—this will not be for kids at all) and slowly preparing two exhibitions in Strasbourg and Paris. If you’re curious, you can go check stuff here: maisonderetraite.bandcamp.com and maisonderetraite.tumblr.com.
Merci, bisous.
For links and more info about this artist and all of the artists in our Comics & Art Issue, check out the artist bios page.
