Talking to a 4/4 Beat:
Véronique Tanaka's Metronome
Reclusive Artist Gives Rare Interview

Just when you thought that nobody could create something new in
comics, NBM Publishing presents Metronome, the debut graphic novel by
Véronique Tanaka (with an Introduction by Bone’s Jeff Smith). Metronome

is a wordless, erotically charged visual poem, a very human and
elegantly structured tale of a doomed relationship, and a gorgeous art
book/graphic novel from a mysterious new artist. You can see preview
art at www.nbmpub.com/metronome/metroprev1.html and the animated
Metronome at www.nbmpub.com/metronome/index.html.

The following interview with Véronique Tanaka was conducted by Nicola
Peruzzi and Antonio Solinas for the Italian comic website De: Code at
Italy’s Lucca Comics Festival. All the parties concerned have
generously allowed the interview to be more widely disseminated because

they’d like more people to be aware of Véronique and her work.
Metronome is due out this spring.

DE: CODE: Hi, Véronique. Could you please introduce yourself to the
Italian readers?

TANAKA: My mother is French and my father is Japanese. I was born in
Kyoto in 1977. My work is with contemporary art, mainly installations
and events but I also paint. This is my real life.

DE: CODE: Could you tell us something about your career as a
conceptual artist?

TANAKA: Some of my work is what is called conceptual art. I have
exhibitions. I live in Brazil a lot. I call myself Véronique Tanaka for

my printed work.

DE: CODE: How did you first get involved with comics?

TANAKA: Metronome is my first comic album. I grew up reading French
and Japanese comics but only now have done a comic because I have this
strong idea and design in my mind.

DE: CODE: Metronome is coming out in March. Could you please give us a

short summary of Metronome?

TANAKA: It is sixty-four square pages, sixteen panels each page, four
panels each line and is in 4/4 time, like music. And music is a theme.
The man in the story is a composer. The individual panels often make
designs over the whole page. The book is about one instant and about
memories evoked in that instant. It begins where it ends and could be
read again after, like a loop. It is a visual poem but there is a
strong story under the surface.

DE: CODE: When did you conceive Metronome?

TANAKA: About eight years ago, after reading a short story, “La
Plage,” by Alain Robbe-Grillet. It is an existentialist piece of
writing. It is no story.
Some children walk along a beach. They leave footprints in the sand.
Seagulls fly off when they get near, fly about and land in front of
them. A church bell is tolling in the distance. That’s it. They walk,
waves come in, the birds fly off, the bell rings. Each thing repeats.
It is as if the moment is going on forever.
It is frozen in time and also taken out of time to exist in its own
space. But the atmosphere is fantastic. It made me start to think of a
story that could be told in repeated images. Images that at first seem
random but all gain significance as the pages turn.

DE: CODE: Metronome is all about exploring the relationship between
rhythm and storytelling. What are the reasons behind such a choice?

TANAKA: Yes, the images, the panels are like beats in music. I had
this idea first, and thought of the composer afterwards. It gives a
reason to why use the rhythm. My story is not existential. It has a
well-constructed plot. It is the story of a relationship based on sex
and nothing else. And so it is doomed.

DE: CODE: Bryan Talbot is acting like an agent / sponsor for your
work. How did you two met?

TANAKA: Two years ago I went to the comic festival in Angoulême. I go
to it when I can. It is a great thing. Bryan Talbot was signing albums
at the tables of his publisher. I have read the French edition of his
L’Histoire d’un Vilain Rat (The Tale of One Bad Rat) a while ago and I
love it. I love the ligne claire [clear line] style and the
storytelling. I talked to him, and we went for a drink together after.
I know nothing of the comic industry, and he agreed to help me find a
publisher after I showed him copies of the pages I had completed.

I don’t want to be involved in the comic business. Later, after I
finish the book, I posted it to him on CD. He had several copies
printed and sent them to some publishers and Terry Nantier of NBM
publisher accepted it.

DE: CODE: Your graphic style blends manga, French and even American
influences. Is that correct? How did you develop your style?

TANAKA: I have not read many American comics. Only some by Robert
Crumb and Art Spiegelman. My style came all out of working on computer.

I did all the book in Photoshop. I draw using the pad and then copy and

change drawings with the stylus. I build up a library of images that I
can adapt and change.

DE: CODE: Metronome explores themes like love, personal relationships
and sexuality. What were your inspirations?

TANAKA: “La Plage” began the idea, as I say. The story is not
autobiographical. It is of the imagination. The two characters -- the
composer and the woman -- came from mixing different people I have
known. I know a woman friend who has had this violence from her
husband. And she left him.

DE: CODE: On Shadowgallery.co.uk, there’s a 17-minute flash animation
of Metronome that works very well because it’s hypnotizing,
mesmerizing, and sometimes even disturbing. What’s the reason behind
the choice of the multimedia animation?

TANAKA: This was the idea of Bryan Talbot. He said that the comic
would also work as an animation at one panel each second. He had the
book on CD and so animated it. Cornwell Internet were kind to host the
animation for me.

DE: CODE: There are no pictures of you on the net, and this seems to
be a precise choice. Can you elaborate, especially in an era in which
image seems to count more than substance?

TANAKA: I have another life as a fine artist. I am from a different
world. So I like to be anonymous in the comics world. I am quite shy
anyway and don’t like my picture taken.

DE: CODE: Do you still read comics? Is there anything in particular
you like?

TANAKA: I love Bone. I meet Jeff Smith and his wife, Vijaya in
Angoulême. He was kind and wrote the introduction to Metronome. Right
now I like Exit Wounds and The Rabbi’s Cat.

DE: CODE: What are your current projects?

TANAKA: My next comic will be called, I think at the moment, Véronique

Erotique, after some prints I made a few years ago. It will recount a
piece of conceptual art I did last year in Paris in summer. I walked
around the centre of Paris dressed in a full burqa and veil, but
underneath I was wearing nothing but a corset and black stockings and
high heels. It was a very strange sensation to feel, and that was the
reason I did it. It was exciting to be completely hidden but sexual
underneath. I went to the Louvre and sat down before a painting. This
act was inspired by an old illustration by Moebius, who I love.

DE: CODE: The very last question. Could you please name the three
comics that everybody must have on their shelves?

TANAKA: I think The Tale of One Bad Rat, Tintin -- I grew up with
Tintin -- and I think three has to be Akira because it made such a big
impression on me when I was young.