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| Rutu Modan - Illustrator |
| IcExcellence chosen artist since 2005 |
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"One of the most prominent of a group currently turning the spheres of illustration and comics into a captivating phenomenon in the cultural field. Her illustrations have distinguishing features which cannot be mistaken: coarse, ludicrous, not prettied up, and yet touching and precise, piquant and merciless."
Ruth Direktor, Curator and Art Critic
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Rutu Modan graduated cum laude from the illustration program of the
Department of Visual Communications at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
in Jerusalem in 1992. Until 1997 she wrote and illustrated comic strips on a
regular basis for Maariv and Yedioth Aharonot, Israel's leading daily
newspapers. Since then she has been concentrating on illustrations for
newspapers, magazines, books and commercial campaigns, as well as animation
segments for numerous television and multimedia projects. A leading figure
in her field, Rutu co-edits the Hebrew edition of Mad Magazine, and is a
cofounder and member of Actus Independent Comics, an internationally
acclaimed collective and independent publishing house for alternative comics
artists. Rutu also teaches comics and illustration at the Bezalel Academy for art and design, Jerusalem and the Shenkar Academy for Design, Tel Aviv.
Rutu has received several awards in Israel and abroad, including four times
the Best Illustrated Children's Book Award, from the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem (1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004). In 1997 she was named Young Artist of the year by the Israel Ministry of Culture. In 1999 she and other Actus artists
were final nominees for the Eisner Awards, the American comics industry's
most prestigious award, for the Best Comics Anthology of the Year. In 2001
she won the Andersen Award for Illustration from the International Board on
Books for Young People in Basel, Switzerland, and was a final nominee for
the Best Story and for the Promising New Talent Award of the Ignatz Awards
for the finest American alternative comics. In 2006 she received Israel's Ministry of Science, Culture &
Sport Award.
In November 2006, Rutu celebrated the publication of her marvelous new graphic novel (book-length comics with a story format) entitled "Exit Wounds". The book was launched at the Lucca Comics Festival in Italy at the beginning of November, receiving critical acclaim from both the media and the audience. "Exit wounds" was published during 2007 in North America, England and Switzerland. The book has been nominated the Best Graphic Novel of the Year for the American Quill Award, voted on by libraries and book stores throughout the US.
Rutu was invited by The New York Times to write and illustrate a monthly column, starting May 2007, under the title Mixed Feelings.
Selected Books Illustrated by Rutu Modan
2006
- "Exit Wounds", Coconino Press, Italy and Sin
Edicion, Spain
2005
- Energy Bloquees, Actes Sud BD, Paris
2004
- Dead Herring, by Actus artists & Friends, Actus Independent Comics
- Dad Runs Away with the Circus, by Etgar Keret English Edition by Candlewick Press, Cambridge
2002
- Where Is? by Tamar Bergman, Houghton Mifflin, Boston
- 5 Victor, by Actus artists, Actus Independent Comics & Modan Publishing
- Alma and the Sixth Day at School, by Nurit Zarhi,
Am Oved
2001
- Bathnymph, by Nurit Zarhi, Am Oved
- Happy End, by Actus artists, Actus Independent Comics
2000
- Dad Runs Away with the Circus, by Etgar Keret,
Zmora Bitan
1999
- The Happy, Cheerful Cock, by Hanoch Levin,
Tel Aviv Books
1998
- Jetlag, by Etgar Keret, Actus Independent Comics
1996
- Nobody Said It Was Going To Be Fun, by Etgar Keret, Keter Publishing
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From Rutu's New York Times monthly column |
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Dad Runs Away with the Circus
Children's book illustration |
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Comics frame from
"Enenrgy Blockage" |
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Courtship
Commissioned art |
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Tel Aviv Summer
Newspaper front page |
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IcExcellence is supporting Rutu in tailor-made artistic programs, and providing special career advancement consulting.
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Marauding after an Attack
Illustration for newspaper article |
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| Reviews |
"Modan's elegantly simple line drawings match her dialogue, resulting in a heart-piercing, tough-minded love story."
Entertainment Weekly
"…a book that will probably be on my short list for best graphic novel of the year…‘Exit Wounds’ is brilliant. I can’t recommend it enough."
Comic Book Resources
"Modan's spare, affecting lines and charged dialogue add up to a tragicomic take on family and identity."
The Washington Post
"’Exit Wounds’ is the real thing. Modan brings you a world entire…A wonderful book, and beautifully published to boot."
The Telegraph, UK
"It's immensely readable, beautifully coloured, and richly detailed, but Modan's real triumph is her treatment of the characters."
The Vancouver Courier
"Warm, funny and touching, ‘Exit Wounds’ is specific enough in its look at modern Israeli life to seem unique, but universal enough in its characters and themes to be easily recognizable. It's one of the best books you'll read this year."
The Patriot News
"Modan is a deft and subtle storyteller, and her meditation on Israeli identity and the possibilities of love and trust…are finely wrought. Her loose, expressive drawing is both tremendously evocative and precise-always enhancing the plot. The stellar combination makes this one of the major graphic novels of 2007."
Publishers Weekly, 2007
"An excellent painter and sketch artist, overflowing with humor that's right on target. Her mark is like no other."
Hanoch Levin, Playwright and Author
"She offers a fascinating link between the written image and the visual
image. Her works are an innovation in the realm of comics illustrations, and
simultaneously address central themes which have been dealt with over the
past decade by Israeli and international artists. Rutu Modan's collaboration
with artists such as Etgar Keret and Hanoch Levin is not mere illustration
of their writing but rather an intelligent interpretation that powerfully
integrates expressive drawing and a conceptual grasp of the essence of the
relations between people, the nature of their living space, and the
boundaries and limitations of identity in the modern age."
Dr. Ariella Azulai, Curator and Art Critic
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