Gary Panter

by Dan Nadel, Karrie Jacobs

An intimate look at the work and life of a legendary artist. Gary Panter has been one of the most influential figures in visual culture since the mid-1970s. From his era-defining punk graphics to his cartoon icon Jimbo to his visionary design for "Pee-wee's Playhouse," he has left his mark on every medium he's touched. Working in close collaboration with the artist, PictureBox has assembled the definitive volume on Panter's work from the early 1970s to the present. This monumental, slipcased set is split into two 350-page volumes. The first is a comprehensive monograph featuring over 700 images of paintings, drawings, sculptures, posters and comics, alongside essays by Robert Storr, Mike Kelley, Richard Klein, Richard Gehr, Karrie Jacobs and Byron Coley, as well a substantial commentary by the artist himself. The second volume features a selection from Panter's sketchbooks--the site of some of his most audacious work--most of which has never been published in any form.
A three-time Emmy Award-winner for his production design on "Pee-wee's Playhouse" and the recipient of the 2000 Chrysler Award for Design Excellence, graphic artist Gary Panter has drawn inspiration from diverse vernacular and traditional art arenas over the course of the past four decades. Closely associated with the underground comics and music scenes on both coasts, he is responsible for designing the Screamers iconic 1970s poster, many record covers for Frank Zappa, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Residents and the ongoing comic character Jimbo. Most recently Panter has performed psychedelic light shows at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and at New York's Anthology Film Archives. He was a featured artist in the major 2006-2007 touring exhibition, "Masters of American Comics."

Genres: Art, Comics, Nonfiction, Comix

700 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Dan Nadel is the author of Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life (Scribner, April 2025). His previous books include, It’s Life as a I See It: Black Cartoonists in Chicago, 1940–1980; Peter Saul: Professional Artist Correspondence, 1945–1976; and Art Out of Time: Unknown Comic Visionaries, 1900–1969. Nadel has curated exhibitions for galleries and museums internationally including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is the founder of PictureBox, a publishing and packaging company that produced over one hundred books, objects, and zines from 2000 to 2014, including the Grammy Award–winning design for Wilco’s 2004 album A Ghost Is Born. Dan is the curator-at-large for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his family.

Reviews

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not know where I will find room on my shelves for this behemoth, but do I even need to find room? maybe I'll just leave it out and look at it forever. Everything Panter does - comics, paintings, drawings, light shows, architectural models, etc. - is touched with the same quick smart colorful rip-roaring sensibility, a sensibility that while punk through and through is a weirdly optimistic (even child-like) punk that takes things as they are but that pushes and strives for more, always more, and has a street-smart wisdom that finds beauty and beautiful energy in the unlikeliest of places. He makes me wish I hadn't given my huge treasured childhood collection of little plastic animals and dinosaurs away, but that's my only regret.

[Jeff Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The focus is on Panter's paintings, but the real gems come from unexpected places - psychedelic lightshow posters, architectural models, stunning sketchbooks, the ephermera and early work that accompanies a lengthy interview. Lots of quibbles about the inclusion of so many late paintings, the selection of comics material, etc. But as a total package, this lovingly compiled tome still packs enough mind-altering artistic oomph that it'll detonate your brain like a neutron bomb.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every library should own this book. Every comics reader should read this book. Panter is one of the first practitioner of North American art comics and this book shows everything you want to know about his work.

[Colin Chaconas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flipping through all of his paintings was an interesting feeling because I felt like I didn’t get them. But then you read the end of volume one where he speaks on his own works in his own words and everything clicked and I flipped through the whole thing again and it’s like it finally made sense

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Panter should be an inspiration to us all.

[Luisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary panter mentions getting his dog killed a life changing event, he knew that mf for less than a year… he should have been worried about nana dementia instead

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this is an amazing collection, including two hard cover volumes, 350 pages each, slipcased for library posterity, and edited by Dan Nadel, with essays by various people included. These are pairings, illustrations, sketchbooks, matchbook covers, toys, you name it. Panter was one of the Great American Comics Masters series, I think it was 2007, and this collection, larger than life, sort of is a tribute collection to him and what constitutes Art for him. Comics, and avant garde or experimental comics, in particular, are left off everyone's idea of Art. But there have always been those who expand traditional notions of art, so this is no big deal, to be expected. Panter combines supposedly "high" and "low" art and does what he wants. I guess some people associate with a punk aesthetic, but he is clearly in the art comics or alt comics sphere and much of what he did in the eighties has influenced so much of what follows him: DeForge, all the NoBrow stuff. "It continues to amuse me," Panter says. "I have no idea how others relate to it or why." This is a gargantuan collection, and a must read for art comics/alt comics fans.

[Ryan]

Not sure how to rate this book. Maybe its not cool to automatically not just love Gary Panter. He reminds me of the Residents: both really awful and amazing at the same time. He scores points for design and balance; but loses them for intentionally fucking up human anatomy. Very willing to take a chance and after just repeat areas where (I think) he fails. Hell, I don' know anything. He's probably a genius. Recommended for just making me think about his work. Sometimes with disgust and other times with interest.

[Edwin Vazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a collection of Gary Panter's hard to find paintings. Much of the work here has never been printed. Includes sketchbooks, notes and references used by the artist. A must have for any Panter head.

[Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally bitchin. I can't wait to flip through it again.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an inspiration this man is.

[Dave Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Gary Panter...

[Vogisland · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest art books of all time.