House cartoonist 2023 Tony Tasco

Every year the ECC appoints a new Belgian house cartoonist. He also gets a personal exhibition in the ECC during the summer. In 2023 Tony Tasco is our house cartoonist.

Tony was born in Genk to Italian natives. His full name is Vito Antonio Tasco.  Hence his stage name: VAT.

He has been drawing cartoons since 1988, after attending evening school for painting. He also makes caricatures and sometimes illustrations. All this as a freelance artist.

He regularly won prizes in cartoon competitions, for example in Knokke (1988, 1993 and 1996), in Beringen (1992 and 1996), in 1990 a 1st prize in Bordighera (Italy) and many other prizes in Mexico, Slovakia, Portugal, Denmark, etc. And in 2011 he obtained an honorable mention in Kruishoutem in our 18th Euro-kartoenale on the theme "Shoes".

"I am a great admirer of Belgian cartoonists like Gal, Kamagurka, Ever Meulen, Marec, Canary Pete... Next year I will retire and hope to have more time for some urban sketching and drawing landscapes. Inspiration I get mostly from current events and the ordinariness that continues to amaze me.

For years I used the old pen and ink technique, consumed tons of India ink, watercolor, gouache and colored pencil. But these days it's mostly the black simple ballpoint pen (BIC)."

The exhibition of his work at the ECC is scheduled from June 25 to September 17 2023.