Robert Crumb & Aline Kominsky-Crumb Interview: Drawn Together | Louisiana Channel
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- “If it repulses you, do not look at it.” Watch the iconic “cartooning couple” Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb on stage. In this video, they talk about their close to fifty years together, from their first meeting to collaborating and giving the world a version of their marriage - their “love story” - through their joint comic strip.
“It was the early seventies, it was crazy, it was a time of free love, and nothing was normal. So why should our relationship have been normal either?” The couple shares how, before meeting Aline, Robert was already drawing a character with her last name - Honeybunch Kominsky. At the time of their first meeting, Robert already had a wife - and a girlfriend - so “it was a little bit complicated,” but the two were drawn together, and in the autumn of 1972, they started doing comics together. Initially just for fun and to pass the time because Aline had broken her foot: “We made it really crazy, but then a publisher saw it and wanted to publish it, and so we said: Why not?” They recall how many feminists from the women’s comics collective in the 1970s disliked not only Robert but also Aline, who didn’t portray herself as a heroic figure “conquering male-chauvinism.” Aline too considered herself a feminist, but wanted “to be as free as a man, and have as much sex as I possibly could, and be as bad and wild as I could.” In connection to this, Aline is quite clear in her response to people, who find the cartoons degrading: “It’s a lot better to draw it than it is to impose it on other people.”
Robert and Aline also talk about how they work and both agree that working together is much easier than working alone: “She’s just such a natural-born Jewish comedian, it just comes out of her, it just pours out of her all the time. She always keeps me laughing,” Crumb says of Aline, who adds that she likes working with Robert because he can keep her on the subject. The couple feel that people take things too seriously nowadays and that sometimes you have to go back to the very beginning of why you do things: “I wanted to do art that people read in the toilet, and now I have my work shown in New York at the fanciest art gallery in New York, fifty years later.”
Aline Kominsky-Crumb (b. 1948) is an American cartoonist. Kominsky-Crumb’s work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. Solo work includes ‘The Bunch’s Power Pak Comics’ (1979-81), ‘Love That Bunch’ (1990), and ‘Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir’ (2007). She is also one of the cartoonists behind ‘Dirty Laundry Comics’, and cofounder of ‘Twisted Sisters’. In 2016, Comics Alliance listed Kominsky-Crumb as one of the twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition.
Robert Crumb (b. 1943) is an American cartoonist. Crumb, a counterculture comic book artist and social satirist, has enjoyed cult status for his underground comic strips, full of anti-heroes. Among these is a wide range of popular characters including Fritz the Cat and Mr Natural. Much of his work has also appeared in Weirdo magazine (1981-1993), which he founded himself, and which was one of the most prominent publications of the alternative comics era. Crumb has received several accolades for his work, including his induction into the comic book industry’s Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Angoulême Grand Prix in 1999. Crumb was also among the artists honoured in the exhibition ‘Masters of American Comics’ at the Jewish Museum in New York (2006-2007). In 2012 a retrospective of Crumb’s work was exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He has frequently collaborated with cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, with whom he is married, and the couple has made a joint comic strip based on their life together through four decades. A collection of the comics, ‘Drawn Together’, was published in 2012. In 2017, David Zwirner Gallery in NYC held a joint exhibition of Robert and Aline’s artwork: ‘Aline Kominsky-Crumb & R. Crumb: Drawn Together’.
Robert Crumb & Aline Kominsky-Crumb were interviewed on stage by Martin Krasnik in connection with the Louisiana Literature festival at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark in August 2019.
Camera: Simon Weyhe and Jakob Solbakken
Produced by Kasper Bech Dyg and Christian Lund
Edited by Kasper Bech Dyg
Cover photo: Detail from ‘Drawn Together’ (2012) by Robert Crumb & Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2020
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Such a wonderful interview, such a unique couple. My condolences go out to the Crumb family after hearing of Aline's passing. She will continue to live on through her work & inspire fellow weirdo's for generations to come!
Just a few days ago. She was so real, and they were so good together. The hardest realization is yet to come as time reveals the loss.
oh my god that is tragic. RIP
I love how much they still love eachother. So many times you see couples who have been together for a long time be spiteful of eachother. But they seem perfect for eachother!
She is a good German housewife. The entire German culture is based on her type: "Deutsche Hausfrau".
That is what I get out of Zwigoff's film and various YT videos. They get along very well.
@@henrikrolfsen584 shе is jеwish lmaо
it helps when there is an open relationship and you have spent time with another sex partner.
@@DS-nv8bi I couldn't live that life, and any kids who happen to be present will be messed up, but hey.
The king of underground comic artists. A genius whose medium happened to be comic books. Maybe the king because he’s amongst the most honest artists I know of.
Robert Crumb vastly underrates his work, and his contribution to art. His work is awe inspiring. It conveys his inner realm, which is unique to every human being. I was glad to hear that his originals were being collected. Robert Crumb, is just as important an artist, as Michelangelo, or Da Vinci, in my opinion.
Robert Crumb SAVED MY LIFE - well, technically, one of his cartoon magazines did. I was laughing at Mr. Eggs Akley's shenanigans when a black widow spider dropped from the ceiling on to the table. I quickly closed the magazine and - as if in one single motion - I rolled it up and smashed the spider dead. Saved my life! (probably. possibly. maybe not.) Thank you Robert. BTW - I've been reading your works ever since the first one I saw.
Somewhere in spider heaven, a black widow is saying “Crumb KILLED ME while I was trying to say hello to a lonely human!!”🕸🕷😂
Oh, The Horrors!
Killer , only babies are in danger from a
Black widow. A adult may feel ill for one day. Now a funnel spider from Australia is deadly. Huge fangs , they like to get into your shoes!
ow-dangerous-are-black-widow-spiders
How Dangerous Are Black Widow Spiders? - Action Pest
The Black Widow Is A Venomous Spider- But Is It Dangerous? It is widely known that the black widow spider delivers a potent venom that can cause death. Some claim that it is 15 times more powerful than the venom of a rattlesnake. But, what is not so widely known is that black widow spider bites hardly ever lead to death here in the United States...............................
I always love Crumb. 50 plus years ago reading his comics I laughed so hard I thought I'd die!
"What's it all mean, Mr. Natural?"
"Don't mean shit."
Robert Crumb!!! 4 Days ago in Denmark! And no one told me! At least this lovely algorithm was thinking of me recommending this ... Thank you!
Very refreshing interview..
Aline is a remarkable woman. Her brilliance is evident. You are a very good team whose work is better than either could accomplish alone
Aline's art was a fine counterpoint to Bob Crumb's, and the honesty of it gave the drawings validity and interest. It worked well, and I enjoyed it. I loved Weirdo - still do.
Great couple .... she looks good, very honest, inspiring raw and lovely. What a great partner👍 Ang-Ray NYC Borneo
Nice knees too.
so wonderful, thank you for this interview video, we live in a lackluster age compared to theirs; ; let's hope for a renaissance of art, humor and truth.
I feel lucky that I grew up in the time when Zap comix were happening...I love their relationship and their views on the world : honest and sincere....Cheers Robert and Aline!
My father was a hippy back when I was a young kid, I use to read Crumb's comix, and others. I remember The Freak Brothers, Fat Freddies Cat, and a lot of other comix
As a 70s kid, my mom was OK with comic books because enlightened parents knew they were actually good for reading skills. I graduated to Mad Magazine, then The National Lampoon, then underground comix. Geez, the stuff in some of 'em would get the authors put in jail today! My mom had no idea, they were just "comic books".
lucky: me too. My parents left them around the house. Fritz the Cat was the first one.
Lucky Lair +
Keep On Trucking!!
Freak Brothers were the best
Fat Freddie's cat was and still is my favorite
Both my parents knocked my looks all the time. I KNOW how Aleine felt! God. Bless both of these two fantastic artists, the Crumbs.
I'm sorry to hear your parents were like that. I can't imagine how that must've made you feel growing up. I hope that in some way it's made you a stronger person. All the best.
My husband and I were like this. We wrote books together and also came up with crazy art. If you're "unconditional" together, it just happens. They've had a huge influence on me/my art.
❤️
@martha Woodworth thankfully my wife & I are like you & your husband and like R Crumb & Alina. Best of friends and soulmates. I'm a songwriter and I've been trying to get my wife to work with me, but she's so shy. In 30 years, we've written together twice and the results were amazing. I won't give up, I'll keep inviting her into the studio!
Love these two. Saw my first Crumb comix back in '66- great inspiration...
I grew up with ZAP comics. I love what you do, I get it. I really loved meeting your wife in the interview. What an amazing woman. I love her to pieces. Anybody who hates on R Crumb just plain doesn’t get it. Too bad, so sad. You guys are an amazing couple and a inspiration to us all. Thanks for what you do! Keep on Truckin’
Freaking AWESOME !!!! Just fabulous to see Mr. Crumb and Ms. Crumb still together and promoting ART !!!
Crumb is a brilliant artist. This was always true, from the beginning.
This is so wonderful. When he talks, I can imagine one of his characters saying it
Mr Crumb is approaching 80 years old and those comic books he created back in the 60s are now worth 10s of thousands of dollars, sometimes more. It appears he has found his fantasy and so hopefully he is living a comfortable life.
that yoko ono moment got really akward haha love it
A great couple and great interview. Thanks.
cheers from rainy Vienna, Scott
Great interview. The icing on the cake was the summing up of Trump's character, right at the end. It was bang on!
Robert gives the impression of being a hippie and not caring about money, but he was never a hippy; he hated the hippies. He's more into the 1920s/1930s thing, and has a commensurate approach to money. He got into living a very low-budget lifestyle early on, and put money into stocks, preparing to never have to work a square job again after leaving American Greetings (greeting card company).
alex: He didn't hate the hippies, he hung around with hippies. But he became very cynical about the sixites scene later. And, he never dressed like a hippy. He preferred older stuff.
A lot of the original "hippies" had nothing to do with rock music peace or any of the media trappings. The first hippies or more accurately Youth Movement were revolutionaries trying to escape the morality of victorian era values permeating post war american conformity by moving back towards the freedom of the pioneers and wild west, eastern mysticism, and outlaw culture. Peace was only desired in the sense of ending the war, often employing violence, very in-peacefully. The resigned apathetic space-case image the media presents has no basis in reality
The sixties were not peaceful by any measure of the imaginatioon. They started with an assasination JFK and ended with murder, Tate laBianca. The 70s on the other hand after the civil rights and antiwar movement ended, unsuccessfully i might add (JFK MLK Malcolm X all assasinated. Vietnam may have ended but iran and Iraq began almost immediately after) the 70s were born of the lie that civil rights and antiwar had succeeded, so there was nothing to fight for. Hippies were demonized through manson. This moved people like reagan into office damning the youth culture creating nonsense satanic panic and the prisons became capitalist enterprise in what we know now the nwo. Half our Supreme court jistices were put there by reagan who built his career off destroying the youth cultute. America drinks the blood of its children and we are still paying for it today
People like crumb and our free thinkers have left the country in droves
I want to learn more about Hippies, the counterculture, I agree that they were demonized and the other side used this for political gain.
Also though, some hippies fried their brains by taking psychedelic drugs without the proper training and there were other issues as well.
I think, whether we like it or not, hippies brought a sense of individuality to America. Sure, America had a history of rugged individualism and the pioneer spirit.
But hippies rebelled against social conformity. If you compare America today to Japan today, both countries are similarly modernized (though some American conservatives are actually trying to throw away Modernism) but America has less oppressive social conformity, we still have SOME, but maybe every tribe or village or society does.
@@stephenhargrave7922 +
I dug those words, they were way out, you strike me as One Cool Cat
Daddy O
"A blessing and a cures" Yes that's called life but humor and laughter makes it survivable, many thanks.
Mr.Crumb is a legend
Beautiful marriage. Miraculous considering Crumb's mother.
The lust god blessed ol Bob. Aline's looking amazing
My first comics I ever read were a stash of Crumb comics my Uncle had hid in a drawer I was not ready!
Awesome people and interview!!!💘💘 thanks soooooooo mucccccccch
I haven't seen this book yet, but a great book is her graphic memoir "Need More Love."
Fantastic interview! Subscribed! I'd like to make two comments. First of all, Crumb calls comics "lowbrow culture" several times. He is talking mostly about American comic art. He lives in France, the center of European comic art, (bandes dessinées), along with Belgium and Italy. In Paris, there is a huge historical exhibit of comics at the Pompidou Center, France's cathedral of modern art, currently running. As well as a free exhibit of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese, Italian forerunner of "graphic novels". And he never mentioned Roy Lichtenstein! Secondly, while I agree with Aline's description of Donald Trump, it equally describes Joe Biden and the entire political class in D.C.. R.I.P. Aline
Robert Crumb and I have many things in common, we both draw, we both play guitar/banjo left handed but with right handed instruments, we both collect rare 78rpm. records in jazz and other niche genres, and we are the same age. We have never met, but have stood close together at the Django Reinhardt Festival at Samois sur Seine, where we both played on the stage at different times. It's about time that we said hello in person, I reckon that we would get on like a couple of brothers.
um wow
She said Trump is a "total scumbag New York hustler". I grew up in Manhattan and that's a common type of businessperson in New York City, and it's no secret for decades that Donald Trump was one of the sleaziest, but that knowledge didn't seem to travel far beyond the city. His election revealed more about the nation's distrust for Hillary Clinton than any nascent respect for Trump.
I do wish they could have seen the contradiction with siding with the censoring political correct in their hopes of the election outcome.
What a legend for wearing socks with sandals.
I thought Robert would get to speak, I was mistaken.
Very cool interview, especially at the end when asked about what's been going on in the USA. They are Spot On with their observations of our countrys total loss of sanity. I remember a couple of years ago when I was saying to my friends. Where's R Crumb when we need him!
In the 70s I had a 3 ft Plus stack of underground comics I wish I still had them
Aline is 70 and Robert 75 when this interview was conducted.
She looks years younger 😊
i love these people.
Crumb was absolutely crazy about Aline, but slipping out the truth about Ono was gold....
I was introduced to Crumb's artwork when I was in Vietnam (1971) and was given a couple issues of Zap Comics.
She looks great
What's left to say?...Ive never laughed so hard as i have reading and the visual "vibe's" of his comic's and yeah crude comedy but during that time period (can't believe Im saying that) it was right on time, part of the social changes going on and underground comic's was like a cult thing not many knew about. the first one i read I was hooked...Crumb stood out amongst the other great "tooner's Freak Bros., Wonder Wart Hog(my hero), mr. natural on and on...cheech & chong musta lived down the street...
I've been a fan of both Aline and Roberts since the 70s. What a treat to find this, her hair is not as crimped as I thought it would be 🤔, nor had i heard her voice. Cool.
Never seen 2 people more perfect for eachother. Whats your excuse?
I never know what to say about these two, they are so unique and spontainious, I would love to enjoy their company for an afternoon, and talk about anything other than art, as I am sure they are sick of talking about it and have much more interesting things to relate. Nutty but lovable old farts!
It’s funny that Crumb assumes we don’t know who Allen and Burns are, lol. Damsel in Distress is one of my favorite old movies
These two crack me up! LOL
I love how seeing that first page my first thought was, “They have a Burns and Allen vibe.” And lo and behold that’s what they said, too!
There should be a Fritz the Cat poster in every school room in Louisiana.
Robert looks like he is wearing Birkinstocks in the interview. The stock of that company went public today. Big bucks.
Very cool friendship.
Two other famous cartoonists married, and had kids, but I never heard they drew any cartoons together:
B. Kliban and M.K. Brown.
Sad to hear that Aline passed. I hope R is holding up well.
He's lost so many. His brother, his son and now his wife... Damn it...
Jesse should have had some success. He's better at illustration than his father.
Well, he was....
i had found crumb's art overwhelming now i think i can enjoy it
wonderful from every angle
A true genius, Robert opened the whole world to be oneself
Brilliant! Thanks!
Getting spoilt with all these crumb interviews.
Thank you
Mr. Snoid says: "I do what I want!"...
Love'em both. Real people.
Honeybunch KAMinski was a Polish-American big boned Roman-Catholic girl with straight strawberry blond hair and a snub nose, looked nothing like Aline KOMinski-crumb (except for both being big boned). Aline does however look a lot like Lenore Goldberg.
"Crumb has been married twice. He first married Dana Morgan in 1964, who gave birth to their son Jesse in 1965. Crumb met cartoonist Aline Kominsky in 1972; their relationship soon turned serious and they began living together (on the same property shared by Dana Crumb). In 1978, Crumb divorced Dana and married Aline, with whom Crumb has frequently collaborated. (Dana died in 2014.)" - Wikipedia.
It's really no surprise that millennials despise Crumb. They don't understand satire, and take everything literally. Millennials are just young versions of old-timey bourgeois people with their monocles, getting easily offended by every little thing. "Oh, I never!"
Me and all my millennial friends love Crumb
I've never heard a millenial offer an opinion on Crumb one way or the other ... (except M T!).
millennials aren't the young people anymore.
Yeah u need 2 stop eating up the millennial propaganda. Because we are not young kids anymore and plenty of us are hard working anti society crumb lovinging old souls. Its media etc who make u think theres one generation that u can put in a box and say "see this is what they are". In 60s not everyone was a hippie or square either thats complex humans for you. So stop blaming millennials for society being crap its your fault just as much as ours
Gen Z are the angry political ones, and I’m sure a lot of them still love R Crumb. Don’t be salty and gatekeep by excluding whole generations of humans.
Aline, still such a New Yorker. RIP
Great couple, great interview !
Early in life, I wanted the whole pie. Not just a couple of measly Crumbs.
Poor Aline... Love her. That surgery fucked up her sinuses or nasal passage or something... Her face actually looks better 10 years after the surgery, though... Also, good for her, recognizing the immense value of Crumb's original art from early days through the late 70s. They sold a chunk of them for a $$$ bundle, including a big chateau in the south of France in exchange for a briefcase of sketchbooks... ridiculous.
they got a house..yes?
@@kevinjoseph517 yes, hence the "chateau" in my comment
Whomever bought those drawings made a sweet deal. And I do not know the $$$ amount.
Aline is so loveable.
it's great how they "get" each other
Great interview.
When I was younger I got in a car accident. I had no insurance so they three me in a room with a guy who was dying of alcohol abuse. I will never forget the Keep on Truckin' tattoo he had.
Love his work
Why compare Aline to Yoko? Why couldn’t she be Crumb’s McCartney?
Excellent job. Keep it up👍😛
She was correct about Trump
People like this should be world leaders.I love them.
@Nicolás Ordóñez of course - but imagine HAVING leaders like this 😊
Even better if people could lead themselves rather than look to others for authority.
@@pearlsammo1638 yeah the thing is we as socoety have never realize if ppl seek power they likely shouldnt get it.
a nice couple 💞
That’s a dope couple!!
Honeybunch is a great friend for Robert,
you know you have it made when u love what you do an dount care how much you get paid
It's sad she's gone. She shouldn't have outlived him. He needs her. I know she couldn't get out of his shadow, damn it. She didn't really have any success. People--all they could do was say that she wasn't as good as him. Hey... who is? That's why Robert's success speak for itself. I tried to read some of her stuff, but it was checked out at the library. See, when an artist dies... their work goes up in value. It's a tragedy. She should have had some notoriety of her own.
Je les aime tous les deux...
both are honest and entertaining
Awesome Awesome
CRUMB IS A GENIUS!!!!!
I had ordered some signed pictures a few years ago and his address was in there I think by mistake. I Google it and he was outside his house. I was looking up something else on ebay and went to the bathroom and when I came back the cat had walked on the keyboard and placed a big bid. I got harassed by Robert for quite awhile wanting his money. I could tell by the sound of his voice it was Robert because I also have some cds with him on them.
Iconic boomer moment
Truth is necessary for life. Society is drowning in bullshit.
Interesting couple. Screwed up, but interesting.
Great couple
Absolutely, if you dont like it dont look or read it.😃😃
Crumb and John Billette are the Best!
He's still the greatest living artist.
She “Yoko”ed Robert, but she was articulate, sharp, needed to be there.
Cool
Perfect: Have a german guy, in Louisiana, interview Robert and Aline. How does it get more absurd? Love it!
You’re completely wrong
@@melaniewut wut
RIP Aline :(
Was crumb the artist for whole earth catalogs?
Mr. Crumb was going to tour Australia in the early part of this century, but he received so many death threats that he withdrew all plans to tour. In the '70s and '80s, he would have been welcomed warmly. My country has turned to shit.