Uninked : paintings, sculpture and graphic works by 5 contemporary cartoonists

by Chris Ware (Curator), Kim Deitch, Seth

Five of the finest cartoonists currently working are also, not surprisingly, five of cartooning's finest artists. While the original ink-on-paper drawings which compose literary graphic novels and comic strips are generally only one step in the arduous process of creating a visual book, they are not necessarily intended to be seen as finished works in and of themselves. This exhibit chooses instead to focus on those artists whose work intentionally already extends beyond the page: rarely-seen drawings, paintings, lithographs, and sculptures which develop the extensive narrative worlds and ideas which every cartoonist has spent years, and in some cases, lifetimes, developing. The prolific artists presented -- Kim Deitch, Jerry Moriarty, Gary Panter, Ron Regé, Jr. and Seth -- have all devoted themselves to their imaginative work with an multifarious intensity at a time when a great deal of contemporary art mines its so-called visual "source material" from narrative popular culture but then chooses to blur or disregard its story content before enlarging it onto a gallery wall. By contrast, the work by these five artists -- for whom storytelling is second nature -- is unusually original, direct and full of life.

The exhibit runs from April 21st through August 19th, 2007 at the Phoenix Art Musuem, 1625 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona (602-257-1222). A 112 page full-color hardcover catalog edited and designed by the show's curator, Chris Ware, picturing works from the exhibit as well as selected samples of each artists' published work, will be available in mid-July from the museum's store.

(c) http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Chris Ware is an American cartoonist acclaimed for redefining the visual and narrative possibilities of the graphic novel, known especially for his long-running Acme Novelty Library series and major works including Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, Building Stories, and Rusty Brown. His work is distinguished by its emotional depth, frequently exploring loneliness, memory, regret, and the quieter forms of pain that shape ordinary lives, rendered with extreme visual precision, intricate page designs, and a style that evokes early twentieth-century American illustration, advertising, and architecture. Raised in Omaha and later based in the Chicago area, Ware first attracted attention through his strips for The Daily Texan, where an invitation from Art Spiegelman to contribute to Raw helped encourage him toward an ambitious, self-publishing approach that would define his career. Acme Novelty Library disrupted conventions of comic book production in both format and tone, presenting characters such as Quimby the Mouse and later Rusty Brown in narratives that blend autobiography, satire, and psychological portraiture. Building Stories further expanded his formal experimentation, released as a boxed set of interconnected printed pieces that require the reader to assemble meaning from varied physical formats. Ware’s artistic influences range from early newspaper cartoonists like Winsor McCay and Frank King to the collage and narrative play of Joseph Cornell, and he has spoken about using typography-like logic in his drawing to mirror the fragmented, associative way memory works. His practice remains largely analog, relying on hand drawing and careful layout, though he uses computers for color preparation. Ware has also been active as an editor, designer, and curator, contributing to volumes reprinting historic comic strips, serving as editor of The Best American Comics 2007, and organizing exhibitions such as UnInked at the Phoenix Art Museum. His work has extended into multimedia collaborations, including illustrated documentary materials for This American Life and visual designs for film posters, book covers, and music projects. His later projects include The Last Saturday, serialized online for The Guardian, and Monograph, a retrospective volume combining autobiography with archival material. Widely recognized for his influence, Ware’s books have received numerous honors, including multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards, and Jimmy Corrigan became the first graphic novel to win the Guardian First Book Award. He has exhibited at major institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and his contributions to the medium have led many peers and critics to regard him as one of the most significant cartoonists of his generation.

Reviews

[quail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely, the introduction discusses how cartoons exist as a form of storytelling and not as illustrations, while the book showcases discrete sketches. However, the featured artwork shines, and the brief biographical sketches are well executed.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed at Scrubbles.net - http://www.scrubbles.net/2013/03/31/u...

[Liz]

If only I had time to read this--Joanna, read it this for me, okay?