Compared to so many other exhibitions around the world about comic books, this original and unconventional take soars beyond just superheroes.
Beyond the Cape! Comics and Contemporary Art shows how some of the most currently sought-after contemporary artists are influenced by graphic novels and comic books.
The artworks in this pioneering show making its world premiere at the Boca Raton Museum of Art take viewers on a deeper dive into adult realms, tackling some of today’s thorniest issues: politics, divisiveness, immigration, racial prejudice, planetary climate armageddon, feminism, LGBTQ rights, religion, gender, and more.
Grouped together for the first time in this new way, the exhibition at the Boca Raton Museum of Art features prominent artworld superstars, including: Kumasi J. Barnett, George Condo, Renee Cox, Liz Craft, Kota Ezawa, Chitra Ganesh, Mark Thomas Gibson, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Christian Marclay, Kerry James Marshall, Takahasi Murakami, Elizabeth Murray, Yoshitomo Nara, Joyce Pensato, Raymond Pettibon, Peter Saul, Kenny Scharf, William T. Wiley, David Wojnarowicz, and Michael Zansky.
Some of the most acclaimed underground comic book artists are also front-and-center, including: R. Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Mimi Pond.
Also featured in the exhibition are artists from The Hairy Who: Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum.
Most assume comics are primarily intended for children, usually featuring super heroes as evidenced by today’s popular films – but this exhibition is decidedly for adults. The only references to superheroes in this show are by Renee Cox (whose Jamaican anti-racist avenger Raje does not wear a cape), and Luca Buvoli’s animation Not-a-Superhero.
Art that is flat, graphic and colorful (like the art in graphic novels and comics), is taking center stage in the Instagram age. Artists, galleries and collectors are turning to social media as the place to promote their art and find art to purchase.
Most assume comics are primarily intended for children, usually featuring super heroes as evidenced by today’s popular films – but this exhibition is decidedly for adults. The only references to superheroes in this show are by Renee Cox (whose Jamaican anti-racist avenger Raje does not wear a cape), and Luca Buvoli’s animation piece titled Not-a-Superhero.
Art that is flat, graphic and colorful (like the art in graphic novels and comics), is taking center stage in the Instagram age. Artists, galleries and collectors are turning to social media as the place to promote their art and find art to purchase.
The show features more than 80 works by 40 artists: paintings, video, photography, sculpture, prints, drawings, and tapestries.
Rare comics will also be shown, plus contemporary animation and rarely seen historic cartoons from the early 1900s on vintage TVs. |
This exhibition is curated by Kathleen Goncharov, Senior Curator at the museum. She recruited as her ‘muse’ for this exhibition Calvin Reid, the Senior News Editor at Publishers Weekly and a leading expert in the field of comics.
Reid was one of the first critics to recognize comics as a literary form for adults, and selected the comic books and graphic novels in the reading room where the public can comfortably lounge and enjoy reading (many from Reid’s own private library).
“Beyond the Cape delves into the world of comics and graphic novels and their influence on contemporary artists. Their work defies commonalities, but come together to present a boldly visual, eye-opening mirror of our contemporary world and present issues,” said Irvin Lippman, the executive director of Boca Raton Museum of Art. Some of the surprising twists and turns visitors can see at Beyond the Cape!
Elizabeth Murray began working with comic imagery in the 1970s, when minimalism dominated the art scene. Her personal, colorful work proved that painting was still relevant and ripe for innovation, and set the stage for a return to figurative work in the 1980s. As a child she drew from newspaper comic strips, and even sent a sketchbook to Walt Disney.
Kerry James Marshall’s work is currently at the very top of the art market. Known for his flat, colorful paintings of contemporary Black America, for the past 20 years he has been working on his comic series Rythm Mastr (set in the Black community where his Chicago studio is located).
The genesis of Rythm Mastr began with the demolition of public housing and the spike of violence in Chicago in the 1990s. He grew up in the Watts area of South-Central Los Angeles, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movements impacted this artist’s work.
|
|||||
Be the first to comment