[Frank Young] I would imagine you use Adobe Photoshop, or a similar computer program, to assemble your images. Does your creative process occur within those programs? Or do you make sketches or do other pre-planning before each image is assembled? Some “Samplerman” images seem extremely composed, while others have a feeling of spontaneity. The blending of these two opposites is a compelling factor in your work.
[Samplerman] The creative moment occurs mostly when I face the computer screen. I only make sketches when the computer is not on—when I take a walk with a paper and pen in my pocket, or when I have an idea related to structure or geometry for potential compositions. I am always thinking about some elementary geometrical manipulations, combined and applied to the samples. Squares, triangles and circles are everywhere. And I fear this is where my work could start being boring and repetitive—I could apply this to anything.
I try to keep a sense of movement in my work. Sometimes I feel the urge to break my composition, to destabilize the eye-scan and push it toward the next panel. I tend to use symmetry a lot when I start putting together a background and the elements. It’s somewhat satisfying but at the same time it paralyzes any feeling of movement. I usually end up distorting the symmetry I rely on. I try to give it a shake and extend the life of these unearthed objects in any way, like a mad scientist.
…the first comprehensive look at Neel’s portraits of people of color, is an attempt to honor not only what Neel saw, but the generosity behind her seeing.
Join us for a special conversation between artist Raymond Pettibon and Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director of the New Museum, on the occasion of the survey “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work.” Gioni and Pettibon will discuss the artist’s storied trajectory over the last four decades, during which Pettibon has gained a reputation as one of the most influential and visionary living American artists. The conversation will take its cues from “Raymond Pettibon: A Pen of All Work,” which occupies the three main floors of the Museum and includes more than eight hundred drawings from the 1960s to the present, as well as a number of his early self-produced zines and artist’s books and several videos made in collaboration with fellow artists and his musician friends. Although Pettibon has been an unquestionably pivotal figure of American art since the 1990s, he has never before had a major museum survey exhibition in New York.
Raymond Pettibon, No Title (As he enlarged), 2009. Pen, ink, gouache, acrylic, and collage on paper, 38 1:4 × 38 3:4 in (97.2 × 98.4 cm). Private collection, London. Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London
Here are a few highlights from the Sunday programming schedule:
12:30PM / Helvetica Room Teaching Comics Internationally
For much of their history, comics have been a self-taught discipline. Now students are learning how to make comics in a variety of academic environments, from dedicated schools to majors to minors to electives. This panel will bring together a group of international comics educators to discuss the programs they teach in and the different ways in which they approach teaching comics. Bill Kartalopoulos will lead a conversation with Jessica Abel (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, US), Guillaume Dégé (Haute école des arts du Rhin, France), Ben Katchor (Parsons The New School for Design, US), and Merav Solomon (Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel).
2:00PM / Garamond Room Rutu Modan and David Polonsky in Conversation
Israeli artists Rutu Modan and David Polonsky are both known for the excellence of their artwork and for their provocative approach to blending historical and current events into their imaginative works. Modan is best known in North America for her graphic novels Exit Wounds and The Property and for her short story collection Jamilti. Polonsky is best known in North America as the art director for the animated film Waltz With Bashir, directed by Ari Folman. He is also the illustrator of the graphic novel based upon the film. Modan and Polonsky will discuss their work with comics scholar and writer Tahneer Oksman (How Come Boys Get to Keep Their Noses?).
2:00PM / Helvetica Room RESIST!
In the weeks between the 2016 Presidential election and the 2017 inauguration, Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman edited RESIST!, a newsprint anthology of comics and cartoons, mostly by women. 58,000 copies of the newspaper were distributed for free by a grassroots network of volunteers during the Women’s Marches in Washington and across the country. RESIST! used online networks to solicit contributions and in the process became a new kind of hybrid platform: both an ongoing online forum for urgent expression by diverse voices and a print publication that has its roots in the Sixties underground press. In this special session, Mouly and Spiegelman will discuss the development — and the future — of RESIST!
3:30PM / Garamond Room Anthologies as Art: Kramers Ergot and Lagon
The great anthologies of comics history — Zap, Weirdo, RAW, and others — have both made an assertion of comics’ aesthetic ambition at a certain time and place while functioning as a personal expression by each series’ editors. Sammy Harkham is the editor of Kramers Ergot, the anthology which, since 2003, has generated excitement with each volume as a strong statement about contemporary art comics in North America. Alexis Beauclair is the co-editor of Lagon, which debuted in 2014 as a risographed encapsulation of French avant-garde comics, and has metamorphosed with each volume leading to the latest, Gouffre. They will discuss their work as artists and editors with Bill Kartalopoulos.
There will (presumably) be comics for sale at this show, along with the requisite prints, stickers and tote bags. Maybe there will be some more t-shirts for sale this year as well? Come on out to the far west side this weekend and take a look!
