Silent Army Impresario Michael Fikaris launched a new Silent Army comic studio last month in a new location at 8 Weirs Lane in North Melbourne. This Wednesday night the Silent Army Storeroom hosts a one night exhibit and zine launch by Indonesian artist Onyenho Acong.

I asked Michael a few questions about things in a dashed off cavalier fashion,

Matt Emery: Hey! How was the launch of the new Silent Army Storeroom? I wanted to come but had tickets in advance to see Steve Malkmus at the Melbourne Zoo. It was an okay gig, I think he was a little reserved because of the family audience. No mention of love children in Geelong this time.

Michael Fikaris: It was perfect, thanks. Many familiar face, some new ones and all happy in the service.

Emery: Can you tell me about Onyenho Acong? How did you meet this artist person?

Fikaris: Onyenho and I met last week matched up to collaborate on FCAC Jogja. We really got along and did about 20 cartoon/hanging pieces in the show and I asked him if he would be interested in making a zine and displaying some other stuff Northside in my space. Come have a look! He's funny and hard working - my type of artist.

Emery: Will there be any more Dailies anthologies?

Fikaris: Done with the Dailies for now - spreading it more for the meantime, Bird Cage Books.

Emery: Apart from the Pikitia/Retrofit/Kilgore event that can't be spoken of yet can you talk a bit about other things that are happening at the Silent Army this year?

Fikaris: The next launch is a collaborative zine of comics and drawings with my old pal Nelio. It's some abstract pieces combined with a print from each of us. He will be here for a big exhibition and will do a launch with the storeroom. After that is a few things, from some artists you would know and some you may not. Stay tuned!

Emery: What are you working on personally art-wise at the moment?

Fikaris: I am working on a few things locally and abroad this year. Putting time aside to focus on comics a bit more but still poking my head out the door to lick the walls. Will maybe send some of the comics to other specific people if I find the gall as I have still not done that yet.

My first encounter with Tim Molloy was at an Auckland Armageddon convention in the early 00's. In those days artist's alley was bundled into the foyer of the Aotea Centre and tables were free (!). I was tabling next to Tim and friends and I recall them throwing things around the room and generally terrorising other cartoonists in the vicinity. The second day I saw one of the guests from Babylon 5 come over and hang with Tim and his pals. He'd been out with them the night before. Wow! I thought, these crazy comics guys hang out with tv stars!

On the last day I traded Tim my minicomic for an early Mr Unpronounceable comic which had the same disturbing surrealism of his recent work in a still developing roughly hewn art style. There's a period of New Zealand cartoonists from the self-publishing boom of the '90's and early '00's that have kept their hand in the comics game, of which I'd regard Tim and I'm glad to see his work reaching a wider audience in the last couple years through Melbourne publisher Milk Shadow Books.

What were the first comics you read? What were the comics that inspired you to make your own?
It would have been Tintin, Asterix that kinda thing. Disney comics.. . Got into superhero stuff later, then 2000ad Etc... Calvin and Hobbes... I was making comics very young. These probably had a hand in that... I got into Milk and Cheese later . I started doing a mash up/ rip off of them and Calvin and Hobbes called Nasty Neville and Mr Weasel. When I discovered local stuff, local creators I've Andy Conlan, Wade Shotter, Corn Stone, knuckles, you know, James James... I dived right in with Poot, Ninja Sheep, Drunken Otter...

What are some of the influences from outside of the world of comics?
I draw inspiration from all quarters. I've actually spent a lot more time imbibing novels, audiobooks, cinema and fine art than I have spent reading comics... Earliest memory of art would be pulling a Dali book down off the shelf and having my 5 year old mind blown. I have a very active dream life also. I've always had a sense of 'the other' and explores that realm as best I can through experiments in lucid dreaming, readings into the Occult and in the past, psychedelics. Life itself is an inspiration... a turn of phrase, the way light might be streaming in through a strange window, a half glimpsed person down an evening alley... It's all good!

How do you find balance between working in various art mediums? to the best of my knowledge you create comics, paintings, sculpture and music, does any one art form take precedent?

I kind of tend to gravitate towards one thing or another at any given time. I'm just coming out of a heavy comics period (1 or 2 pages a day) and going into some traditional art territory. Whatever is most important at any given time is what I tend to concentrate on. Working out whats important can be the hard thing sometimes... In the end though, comics will probably win out. Here's hoping I never have to make a choice to stick to any one thing! Music is serious fun, and the only team sport I have ever taken part in. My band Plague Doctor explores a lot of the same themes I do in my work, but you can dance to it.

What led to you moving from New Zealand to Australia?

I am an economic refugee. I came by plane though, so thankfully I was not locked up indefinitely in a detention center.

Can you talk a bit about the comics/art community in New Zealand when you lived there?

My journey started with me going to those early 'Iconz' conventions (Is that what they were called?) I ran into the likes of Willi Saunders, Wade Shotter, Andy Conlan, Karl Wills. Loved the irreverent, DIY aesthetic. When I came across the work of James James, and then met him in person, I started getting my work out there. That was 1997? My last year of High School. Those were fun days. Comics and music and art and poetry were all in the same place in those days. I imagine they still are. K Rd was where it was at.

James and I were the youngest, and (sometimes) the most badly behaved participants at 'Poetry Live' at Alleluyah in St Kevins Arcade. Hanging around at Corn Stones house, playing Sooth, reading comics, smoking Beedies and drinking the cheapest booze available. Met a whole cast of weirdos and geniuses through that scene. Everybody knew everybody else and the yearly con at the Aotea Centre (sometimes a trip down to Wellington!) was a good chance to get drunk, hassle B-Grade Science Fiction celebrities and unload some photocopied comics on an unsuspecting public.

It was a very welcoming, vibrant space to develop and grow as an artist, but not without it's share of drama and beef! We played a lot of music, UMX (The Uncle Marty Experience) was our first band (after 'The Tools of Waste' we made a tape called 'The Resin Sessions') and we terrorized audiences with the help of Uncle Marty, our aged patriarch - may he rest in peace.

I became good friends with Ben Stenbeck, The Sheehan Brothers and some of the other people on the 'weird' end of the spectrum. Drew a lot of inspiration and encouragement there. I hung around at Auckland Uni, got a lot of comics into Craccum, drank at Shadows, smoked in Albert park, studied animation on Queen St. Cheap rent, magic mushrooms, cask wine, The Kiss And Make Up Club, St Kevin's Arcade, inky fingers, good people, late nights and lots of fun parties...

Damn! I'm getting all nostalgic now! I could sit here, peering through the mist of time all day, but these are the first impressions that leap out of the gloom at me.

timmolloy.tumblr.com

milkshadowbooks.com