RED MAN: Where were you born?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I was born in Arcozelo, in the city of Vila Nova de Gaia, belonging to the district of Porto.

RED MAN: What was your childhood like? Are there any events related to art?

ANTONIO SANTOS: My childhood was normal, playing with my classmates and friends. He practiced various sports and spent most of his time drawing and painting. I love visiting exhibitions of artists in museums.

RED MAN: When did you start drawing?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I started drawing very early when I was a child. I loved drawing my classmates, school teachers and people I admired, such as cyclists, football players, artists, among others.

RED MAN: Have you ever studied at an art school?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I have the Academic/University Course of Arts and attended the Faculty of Fine Arts in the city of Porto, where I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Communication Design. In addition to being a cartoonist/cartoonist, I am also an art teacher.

RED MAN: Did you start creating cartoon at that time?

ANTONIO SANTOS: Caricature has always been a part of my life. I still remember the first cartoons I made when I was 6 years old. In high school and college, I also became interested in cartoons. In other words, it's the same.

RED MAN: We would like to know when you decided to become an artist? Is your family full of artistic atmosphere?

ANTONIO SANTOS: From a very early age, the arts were a part of my life. When I had to make choices in my studies, I studied Arts and, later, already in Higher Education, I went for the Fine Arts Course.

There was no one in my family related to the arts.

RED MAN: What do your family and friends think of your choice to "make a living through art"? To what extent do they support you?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In Portugal, it is difficult to live only through painting/cartoon/caricature. My family always knew that, but they never put me in the way. Today, my wife and children remain my biggest fans and are always present in everything that concerns my artistic life. In other words, it's the same.

RED MAN: What is your family background?

ANTONIO SANTOS: My family is of simple origin, hardworking and without academic training.

RED MAN: When did you start creating international cartoon works and participating in international cartoon competitions? Did any special issues or events ignite your inspiration and start a new creative path?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I started participating in festivals in 1994. Over the years, my work has gained a lot of visibility, both in terms of awards and in requests to hold exhibitions, speak at lectures, do workshops, among others. This notoriety was an incentive for me to further develop my creative work.

RED MAN: We understand that your work looks very detailed, with rich details, exaggerated shapes, clever ideas, and distinctive features. How did you develop your own style?

ANTONIO SANTOS: My work is technically characterized by the details of visual forms. In cartoons I love working and experiencing deformations, studying the profile of the person. In cartoons I have the concern of making fun and satirizing the various thematic situations.

RED MAN: We see that you are very good at creating caricature(portrait cartoon). Can you tell us how you understand caricature(portrait cartoon). In real life, people's acceptance of caricature(portrait cartoon) varies. In Portugal, do people like caricature(portrait cartoon) as an art form? Do they like works with exaggerated deformations?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I understand portrait caricature as a graphic opinion about a certain person. By exaggerating the physiological traits of this person, I like people to find out who the person drawn is. In Portugal people greatly admire the work of caricature, the exaggeration achieved.

RED MAN: What is on your mind when you are painting?

ANTONIO SANTOS: When I'm at work, I'm focused and listening to music. When I am not working (e.g. driving, walking, etc.) I am often thinking of solutions for my jobs.

RED MAN: There is no text in your work. Do you oppose the use of text? Do you think there is always a way to convey information or ideas purely from images?

ANTONIO SANTOS: Yeah, there's no text in my work. I am not opposed to any, but I am of the opinion that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

RED MAN: What artists or works have influenced you in the process of forming your unique style? You can give an example, for example, show the two or three works that you think have had the greatest impact on you to everyone.

ANTONIO SANTOS: From a young age I admired great painters. As for the cartoonists, he appreciated their work and kept clippings from newspapers and magazines. The Portuguese artists I like the most are Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro and António Antunes.

RED MAN: When did Portugal cartoon originate? What are the representative cartoonists? You can tell us about them.

ANTONIO SANTOS: It was in anonymity that our caricature was born, having as the first caricaturist, worthy of this name, Cecilia. Calling himself the first, we can date the "birth" of caricature in Portugal in the year 1847, with the appearance of his work in the supplement of "O Patriota". From 1847 to 1853, with an almost weekly periodicity, during which he attacked the political system "Cabralism". In other words, it's the same.

Some great names of graphic humorous art were:

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro

He was a Portuguese artist, of vast work scattered by dozens of books and publications, forerunner of the artistic poster in Portugal, designer, watercolor artist, illustrator, decorator, political and social cartoonist, journalist, ceramist and teacher.

Jose Vilhena

In the face of the decay of political caricature and the amorphousness of anecdotal humor, a continuing artist of our medieva l satire emerges, considered a marginal chronicler of our pornographic society, a writer/designer in the counterculture of puritan morality and power. Conciliating desire to will, eroticism to criticism of customs, Vilhena's humorous strength is born.

John Abel Manta

In a period of crisis of aesthetic values, one of the great masters of our history emerges - João Abel Manta. Born in Lisbon in 1928, it emerged in the late 1940s as a break with the graphic tradition, introducing an aesthetic of American influence, to the detriment of the still dominant Raphaelism. It emerges among the "neo-realists" as a view in black humor, where the spirit of the absurd gives a special touch to their work. In 1974, the artist in the struggle against a regime becomes the revolutionary defender of the achievements acquired with the 25th of April, remaining in the interventionist activity as a "cartoonist".

Sam

Civil engineer by training and profession for a while, turned to humor in the so-called "Marcelist spring". His cartoonism is not done in search of an aesthetic and worked trait, but a summary sketch of the narrated story, which is no story, but an irony made of words out of the mouth of these anti-heroes named Richard, Ulysses, among others. Among these heroes, Guarda Ricardo is undoubtedly the most famous, not as a national hero, but an anti-hero, like all the Poor Zero who has only to survive in this country, since he discovered democracy.

Augustus Cid

Another artist who developed in the "Marcelist Spring" was Augusto Cid. He was in California, on an American Field Service scholarship, and seeing how cartoonists treated politicians, with what power they dominated them, he made the decision to devote himself to this profession. After April 25, his critical intervention left the ironic tone to impose itself as a satirical one. His design is linear, with the predominance of silhouette, or two-dimensionality, in which exacerbated caricature exists as a forceful identification.

António Antunes

Born in 1953, he began his career as a cartoonist a month before the April Revolution, in the prestigious newspaper "República". Satirically, his drawing, nicknamed "cartoon", is fundamentally caricatural, is meticulous in technique, which sometimes borders on "hyper-realism", presenting to the public the synthesis of the idea, with the intention of freedom of interpretation for the public.

RED MAN: Where do you think the world's cartoon originated from? When is the origin time?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In 1843 the term was used when the English magazine Punch published humorous cartoons. In addition, at the same time, in France, the genus was used with the name "charge", which means "charge" ("concentration of energy").

RED MAN: We know that Portugal art is very distinctive. How has the development of Portugal cartoon been? Are there many professional cartoonists in Portugal? How is their living condition?

ANTONIO SANTOS: Humor, as a social reflection, also suffered and, if until the 1940s there was political caricature in Portugal, from the mid-1950s and during the 1960s it disappeared. The artist João Abel Manta leads the humorous transition from dictatorship to democracy. While most of the artists, who revealed themselves in the revolutionary period, preferred to follow other professional paths, such as advertising, graphic arts, there were some who continued to develop a daily work in the national press.

At the moment, professional artists who live exclusively on humor are few. The rest of the artists have other professional activities (I, for example, am also an art teacher). In other words, it's the same.

RED MAN: Are there many cartoon publications, magazines, and newspapers in Portugal? How did they reach the hands of the readers?

ANTONIO SANTOS: At this point, the cartoon almost disappeared due to fear of reprisals on social media, leading newspapers to self-censor and publish fewer cartoons. Currently, it is possible to disseminate cartoons through social networks.

RED MAN: What is people's definition of cartoon? Do people like cartoon? Especially do schools and parents allow children to read cartoon?

ANTONIO SANTOS: People explain the cartoon as a fun and humorous drawing with a critical character. More and more people enjoy cartoons. The manuals

Schoolchildren use cartoons as an explanatory basis for other subjects. In the discipline of Portuguese it is a text that necessarily integrates the curriculum and is almost always exam subject.

It is a tradition in colleges to have a course book composed of caricatures of all students.

RED MAN: Are there many derivative products of cartoon in Portugal, and do cartoon images often appear on products? Do people like these products?

ANTONIO SANTOS: There are cartoons in various products, either as a decorative form or with a critical function. The most famous are the ceramic pieces by Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro.

RED MAN: In Portugal, whether it is primary school, secondary school, or university, are there any specialized courses in cartoon? What are the ways people learn cartoon?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In Portugal there are no higher courses in Cartoon/Caricature. There are only illustration and animation cinema courses.

RED MAN: Is there a cartoon museum in Portugal? If so, please introduce the Cartoon Museum to your readers.

ANTONIO SANTOS: Unfortunately, there is currently no cartoon museum in Portugal. There was until recently the National Press Museum that had a gallery dedicated to this theme and an international festival known as “PortoCartoon”.

RED MAN: What cultural heritage is there in Portugal? Do government departments and people attach great importance to these cultural heritages? What is people's understanding of these cultural heritages? What impact does cultural heritage have on you?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In Portugal there is the Bordalo Pinheiro Museum (artist I mentioned earlier), located in Lisbon. It is a museum entirely dedicated to his life and work. Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro was a designer, watercolor artist, illustrator, decorator, ceramist, caricaturist and author of the popular representation of Zé Povinho in the 19th century, which became a symbol of the Portuguese people. Another museum that existed but is closed is the National Press Museum in Porto, born in 1997. It arose in the face of the need to show the History of the press and graphic arts. Considered one of the best in the world due to the quality and quantity of the exhibited parts, it highlights the possibility of, in addition to seeing the parts, being able to handle them thus simulating the process of printing and composition. In this museum was held for 24 years, the Cartoon Festival called «Portocartoon». In my opinion, museums play an essential role in the protection, preservation and transmission of heritage. Today, museums are much more than places where objects are displayed and preserved.

RED MAN: What have people done to protect these cultural heritages? (Specific measures and promotion methods.) What role has cartoons played in cultural heritage protection? What role do you think cartoons can play in the protection of cultural heritage in the future?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In Portugal, the Arts and Culture are deva lued, unfortunately falling short of their immense and multifaceted potential. Regarding the role of cartoons in Portugal, it was important that cartoons occupy a space in the written press, as a form of art, humor and journalism. At the moment there are 2 international festivals of caricature and cartoon, appealing to the participation, promotion and dissemination of the works of the artists.

RED MAN: This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the world anti fascist movement. What is the understanding of Portugal youth towards the 80th anniversary of the victory of the world anti fascist movement? What educational measures does Portugal have in this regard? Have Portugal cartoonists produced any anti Fascist cartoon works over the past 80 years?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I think most young people realize that this commemorative date is very important and that dictatorships (fascism and Nazism), for decades, have oppressed peoples, suppressing freedoms, repressing, torturing and murdering, imposing backwardness, misery, obscurantism. In schools these dates are remembered to serve as a basis for study. There are Portuguese cartoonists who have strongly criticized these dictatorial regimes and who have suffered consequences.

RED MAN: Are there any commemorative facilities in Portugal for the victory of the anti fascist movement? What are the regular commemorative activities?

ANTONIO SANTOS: In Portugal, there was a revolution called the “Revolution of April 25, 1974” that marked the beginning of democratic life in Portugal. The military coup led by the Armed Forces Movement put an end to the authoritarian regime of the Novo Estado, paving the way for the democratization and development of the country. The year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of this famous revolution in Portugal. There are several monuments and works of art commemorating this ephemeride.

RED MAN: What other hobbies do you have in your life?

ANTONIO SANTOS: Sport, reading and travelling with family.

RED MAN: If you weren't an artist, what would you do?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I never thought about it, however, art for me has been, is and always will be an integral part of my life.

RED MAN: What do you want to say to people who like your work?

ANTONIO SANTOS: I like to show my work to my friends and admirers and I am always very happy when people highlight this taste. I am very grateful and sensitized.

RED MAN: What advice do you have for young cartoon artists who respect you and take you as an example? What would you say to your respected colleagues? What would you say to readers who like your work? What would you say to readers who don't understand humor? Besides, what advice do you give yourself? What advice do you give me?

ANTONIO SANTOS: My advice to any young artist and my colleagues is that they should never give up, despite the difficulties. They should always believe in their work, investigate, seek to know more and more about the topics. For people who do not understand the message of humor, it is necessary to raise awareness and explain the technical language and make the framing of the topic. In other words, it's the same.

The advice I give myself is that “Everything is worth it/If the soul is not small” (Fernando Pessoa).

My advice to my friend CHENG ZHU is to continue to develop energies for the appreciation of the language of graphic humor (caricature and cartoon) in China and around the world. One of my dreams will be to visit and get to know the cultural and artistic traditions of your country.

RED MAN: Without a doubt, you have succeeded. I know you are happy with what you have done.

Lastly, thank you for your trust and support in our interview!

ANTONIO SANTOS: I am grateful for this opportunity to share my personal and artistic journey. I feel truly honored.