Remedy for the Post ComiCon Blues

Tonight (at midnight, to be precise) I'll be filing into a movie theater with millions of other cinéastes fantastiques to see the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. In honor of this momentous occasion, Billy has given me permission to offer a 25% discount on all graphic novels and comic books in WACKO. I don't know when was the last time you checked out our sequential art library, but we've got almost an entire aisle dedicated to comics and comix, and since we may not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of comic books, we've got a lot of harder to find and even out of print collections that you definitely can't find for cover price anywhere else –and we're offering a 25% discount on top of it! Sales items are excluded, but our sale books are so cheap already that you'd be hard pressed to complain. The sale ends when the doors close on Sunday night, July 22nd –which will be later than usual to accommodate the Los Feliz Village Street Fair.

My catalog about comic art, POP SEQUENTIALISM, will also be part of the sale even though it's technically not a graphic novel or comic. It's a perfect place to start if you've developed an interest in superhero fiction, and I strongly recommend that you follow the POP SEQUENTIALISM BLOG for up to date reviews and news about the fine art of sequential storytelling. I post a new column weekly on Thursday mornings, with the occasional update in between.

On Monday morning I embark on a cross country drive to deliver and install a major retrospective at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art for one of my favorite artists (and good friend), Myron Dyal. The entire Charon's Pantheon exhibit will be exhibited along with important new and old works of papier-mâché and painted canvases. Myron will be flying out to attend his opening and hold court with patrons and contributors in a presentation that is sure to expand the local consciousness.

I won't even be able to stay and appreciate the fruits of my labor, as I have to hop a plane and return in time for Billy's Thursday Night Fishfry & Community Social, headlined by former CHRISTIAN DEATH vocalist Gitane Demone. Each of these monthly musical events has been better than the last, and the revolving roster of performers is lively and refreshing. Also appearing will be Sioux City Pete, Gabriel Hart, Michael Rozon, Scot Nery, and of course those Motorcycle Boys, Francois & John. Christy Kane will be projecting her Callalilly, and the festivities will be MC'ed by Blaine Capatch. Seth and Johnny will be behind the scenes with Billy, so be sure to cruise on over and enjoy yourself!

There are fireworks and then there's Yellow Cake Uranium!

Mark Todd's Powerfury Fireworks Stand from his Force Field exhibition (now on display at La Luz de Jesus) has been a huge hit with Independence Weekend crowds. His high concept idea to blend two great juvenile obsessions (comics and fireworks) has rendered a very mature art piece –an installation that is already being hailed as one of the landmarks of the year. All of the collage pieces and most of the paintings have already sold, so Mark has decided to allow collectors to buy individual pieces from the fireworks stand. The fireworks themselves are now available for purchase in five sizes at incremental price points between $100 - $200, which is a real steal. Todd has also been adding to the stand with each visit to the gallery, making the installation a continuing work in progress adding a deeper degree of vitality to an already ostentatious centerpiece. Far from an art snob, Mark Todd is a prolific zine publisher, will be exhibiting at both Comicon and A.P.E. and teaches at Art Center College of Design. He's also amassed an impressive fan following if the attendees to his opening reception are any indication of his collectors: Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore, Jeanne Tripplehorn & Leland Orser, director Patty Jenkins, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, and several rock 'n rollers, museum curators and journalists.

Mark Todd will also have a new piece in the Lucid Dreams exhibit which opens tomorrow night at the Noel-Baza Fine Art Gallery in San Diego (July 8 through August 9) featuring 45 internationally renowned artists. Lucid Dreams is the 26th artist survey and fine art exhibit curated by San Diego based designer Mark Murphy of Murphy Design, following up last year’s Narrative Museum exhibition, “Survey Select,” which featured 32 live events over eight weeks.

Wayne Martin Belger previously exhibited at Billy Shire Fine Arts in 2006. Wayne's preferred medium is the construction of specialty pin-hole cameras which often feature a biological or organic element. Among that collection was a camera fashioned from steel from the World Trade Center (Post 9/11), a camera featuring a mini-dialysis pump containing HIV+ blood, and a formaldehyde-preserved infant heart. Patrons of Belger's functional fine art pieces also receive a series of themed photographs shot with their cameras. While I've spoken with Wayne several times over the years, I had never actually met him until last week when he visited the gallery and discussed some of the projects he's been conceptualizing. He brought two new cameras, one of which will be in the La Luz de Jesus 25 show this fall. With the other, Belger will photograph X-rays from inside a giant particle accelerator. The Divine Proportion camera is a lead glass encased pinhole camera, specifically designed to capture on film the scatter from the impact of a high intensity X-ray beam on sculptures representing creation and destruction. The sculptures will be selected based on iconic figures of creation and destruction (such as Robert Oppenheimer and Shiva) formed of materials from the region in which the particle accelerator is located. One of the organic elements attached to this particular camera is a vial of yellow cake uranium (pictured with Wayne, above right). He's recently received an invitation to enter the hot zone (Congo, Liberia) to document the AIDS epidemic in Africa with his HIV Cam. We'll be working hard this summer to get a grant for this important endeavor.

Have I mentioned that Wayne is one of my new favorite people on the planet?

La Luz tops L.A. Times & Huffington Post Art Picks; lands on NPR!

Tonight we'll unveil the Mark Todd's Force Field exhibition which (in timely July 4th fashion) features the Powerfury Fireworks Stand installation. We've archived fifty photos of the construction of this incredibly important work, accessible at the bottom of the preview page. The Los Angeles Times selected this show as their Top Pick. Several of Mark's pieces have already sold, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is a complete sell out. In addition to his signature comic book deconstruction paintings and collages, he'll be offering custom, non-explosive fireworks in four sizes for as little as $100 each. We'll be holding a BBQ in the back lot for this show, which will also serve as the public party for the Soap Plant 40th Anniversary! Hard as it is to believe that the shop that spawned Wacko and La Luz de Jesus Gallery has been around for 40 years now, it's been a pleasure and a privilege to reflect and contribute to the counter culture as we head towards our fifth decade. NPR just profiled us:


Also on exhibit this evening and for the rest of the month will be new work from Simon Sotelo, Andy Steele, Hui Tan and Van Saro -who earned the distinction of landing a highlight on the Huffington Post as all four were recommended by Artweek.
The breakout stars of this year's Everything But the Kitschen Sync group show cover a lot of ground between Van Saro's graffiti verite, Hui Tan's Chinese nostalgia, Simon Sotelo's Dia de Los Muertos portraits and Andy Steele's deformed children's book illustrations. Come on down and have a hotdog on us!

Comic Book Deconstruction: Why July is Going to Rule!

I just received this image of Mark Todd's Powerfury Fireworks Stand, which will anchor his upcoming Force Field exhibition, which opens on July 1st, 2011. Mark has delivered an incredible variety of his signature comic book deconstructions for this prestige installation that will occupy the entire space that currently showcases Glenn Barr's Faces show. When last we showcased Mark (at BSFA), he caught the attention of USA Today. A mere two weeks after this show opens, Mark will head down to San Diego Comicon International, where he'll be further promoting this installation. Click the image at left to access a preview gallery.

There's a maturity in the childlike simplicity of this project, which has been underway for quite some time. The explosive presentation of the sequential action that Todd's art celebrates is less juxtaposed than forced upon the public in a clever and relevant construction that configures the 4th of July holiday opening directly into the oeuvre of the show. I rarely venture into art critique with this column, but I find this particular object to be absolutely brilliant. It's a work of powerful significance that posits a logical progression from Duchamp's Urinal to Warhol's Brillo boxes to Hirst's Pharmacy and finally to Mark Todd's Fireworks Stand. This may be one of the most important pieces to come from our Los Angeles Post-Pop culture, in that it undeniably references the nostalgic appeal of the movement that started as Lowbrow, graduated to Pop-Surrealism, and has recently found acceptance under the greater umbrella of California Modern/Figurative. It also closes the circle from comic books to graffiti to pop-art and back again. I think that 2011 is going to stand as a pivotal year for modern art, specifically with respect to the city of Los Angeles. It will be impossible to have any such discussion without referencing the "new school" that started 25 years ago at La Luz de Jesus and how this single gallery has pushed the envelope in ways that few others could and no others did.

There's a full page advertising Mark Todd's upcoming show in the previous and latest issue of Hi-Fructose Magazine, in WHOA's Summer Art Special, and in the upcoming issue of Pop Surrealism Magazine. Also in the pages of the latter is a two page profile of the recent Pop-Sequentialism Exhibition of modern comic book art. With Green Lantern sure to top the box office this weekend, and Captain America: The First Avenger following soon after on July 22 (during Comicon) it seems that the culture at large is once again dancing to a beat that started here.

Also showing in July, we've already got previews posted for Van Saro, Andy Steele and Hui Tan (check back for a Simon Sotelo preview).

La bande dessinée: Pop-Sequentialism in France

Almost immediately after the Pop-Sequentialism exhibition opened, I ventured to Paris to cement international relations with a few, select galleries. To my surprise and delight, the exhibition and the show catalog were enthusiastically received and planning has begun for a European tour. This traveling, European version of the landmark exhibition of modern comic book art will include some of the pieces from the inaugural show, expanding to include more examples of original production pages from several of the same creative teams and a roster of new, landmark collaborations –addressing the slight differences in taste between American and European collectors.

By the time I packed my luggage to embark on this journey, the synergy at home had launched a media storm that could not be contained: Free Comic Book Day resulted in unprecedented "sold-out" status for more titles than ever before; the Frank Miller and Klaus Jansen Dark Knight splash page offered at auction by Heritage realized the record price of $448,125.00 (plus a 19% buyer premium); and Kenneth Branagh's blockbuster Thor movie opened to critical and public praise as billboards for Captain America and Green Lantern began popping up all over the nation. The Pop-Sequentialism exhibit garnered the pick of the week in the L.A. Weekly, and the blogosphere was lit-up with feature reports on Artlog, Newsarama, Gothic.Net, Comic Book Resources, Illustration.org, Campus Circle, ChinaShop, Spectrum, SupahCute, Crackajack, Forces Of Geek, Bleeding Cool, Wizards World, and a little over 11,000 other site pages!

The Pop-Sequentialism exhibition catalog is available now for a limited time. It's formatted like an 80-Page Giant and priced accordingly at $7.95. The print run of 1,000 copies isn't expected to last beyond this year's Alternative Press Expo. Wholesale and retail orders can be fulfilled by emailing info@laluzdejesus.com.

In preparing the catalog for publication along with Peter Shire's Hokkaido Story, I realized that the La Luz de Jesus Press website was well out of date. So I completely redesigned the front page to reflect greater consistency with the La Luz de Jesus Gallery website, and updated the book list to reflect the 25 titles currently available or in solicitation.

In the last two years we've published new art volumes by Dennis Larkins, Chris Mars, Scott Musgrove, Myron Conan Dyal & Jennifer Logan. Next month we'll be presenting a new Glenn Barr book and by the fall, we'll be publishing a massive tome to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of La Luz de Jesus Gallery. By the end of the year, there will be a new Daniel Martin Diaz collection and we'll be announcing new titles from past collaborators alongside a handful of print debuts. A work in progress, the new La Luz de Jesus Press site will soon be expanded to include a selection of antiquarian titles from Billy Shire's personal archive, an easy to use shopping cart, and links to signing events and exhibitions at other galleries featuring our roster of published artists. The gallery site will soon feature a comprehensive, artist search index and a revamped posters & prints menu. These improvements have been a long time coming, and it's my intent to present a better, more user-friendly experience for visitors both actual and virtual.

It's going to be a very exciting summer!

Comic Books Are Fine Art!

"It's incredible that the fine art world is finally taking (superhero) comics seriously. An exhibition like this would have been out of the question not so very long ago."

–Stan Lee

"With great power must also come great responsibility." –Amazing Fantasy #15

Few art forms have gone as unchanged and unrespected for as long as sequential art, and yet none has had as tremendous an impact as the superhero comic book. Veritable templates for inspiration, comic book superheroes are the post-modern mythology, encouraging generations of global youth while reflecting the society that spawned them. More than just dynamic illustrations on a page, the comic book is a medium that tells stories, and by presenting an exhibition that celebrates the collaborations of the greatest storytellers, my intention is to open a serious dialogue on the importance of this art form.

And this would seem to be the time for it.

This past year, ten paintings by Andy Warhol – an artist who began his career riffing on the iconography of comic books, broke auction house records with realized sales surpassing one hundred, thirty-six million dollars. If there is a single bridge between post-war and pop art, it would have to be comic books. The fact that painted misappropriations of iconic comic book images command the respect (and extravagant prices) long denied to their source material is ironic in the truest sense of the word. Collectors of sequential production art have been privy to the biggest bargain in contemporary art for decades, making it all but impossible to organize a gallery sale of the absolute best. This show features forty important examples of modern comic book art from multiple, award-winning writers and artists, and there isn’t a single piece priced above three thousand dollars thus presenting a golden point of entry for patrons looking to diversify their Pop-Art collections with some of the most exciting creations from the pride of the genre.

This is the first important survey of comic book art from the modern era.

In years past there have been a handful of museum exhibitions showcasing art from comic’s Golden and Silver Ages and there have been several shows dedicated to individual titles or imprints, but never before has such a landmark, and all-encompassing collection been offered for sale as part of a single, gallery exhibition. I started collecting some of the pieces for this show over fifteen years ago, and it became apparent very quickly that hesitation was not an option. Most collectors of comic book art are voracious readers and collectors of the comic books that showcase that art. As such, pages depicting pivotal events from popular titles become highly sought not only for the art, but for the significance within the cannon. Pages featuring main characters in dynamic action are among the most highly sought, but more so are the first and final appearances of new heroes and villains, and those in which the story changes direction or a character’s origin is revealed. Once purchased, the odds of them ever coming up for resale (affordably) is usually between slim and none. These pages represent more than just that which is pictured to the collectors who fondly recall all of the events of a series in that single page. To the comic book faithful, owning a Watchmen or All-Star Superman page is like owning the entire era in which those series were released, which also represents the rise of the comic book writer as media superstar.

All of the works featured in this show are from comic books released in the last 25 years. To some, this is the Copper Age, the Iron Age or the Dark Age, but to most it is simply the Modern Age. This era was christened by the back-to-back releases of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen. These and other early masterpieces from writers Moore & Miller helped to shape all the relevant work that followed, including every piece highlighted in this focused exhibition of heroic fiction. I’d love to be able to claim that every signature collaboration released in the two and a half decades that have followed is represented herein, but that was simply not possible. Pages from modern masterpieces like Miller’s Daredevil and Dark Knight Returns or Moore’s Miracle Man and Killing Joke were snatched up long ago and routinely command peak prices on the rare occasions that they re-enter the marketplace. Bidding on a Dark Knight splash just opened at Heritage Auctions for $100,000.00. There are many others who have made tremendous contributions to the medium who are likewise not represented, due mostly to the unavailability of key pieces, but I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better collection of Eisner, Harvey, and Inkpot Award winning work from the last 25 years.

Beginning with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen (first published in 1986) and arriving at Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers (still publishing, and headed for a television set near you), Pop- Sequentialism includes original artwork from the landmark series and quintessential collaborations that have crossed beyond comic book fandom into the Pop zeitgeist, changing the perceptions and preconceptions of the hobby, the format and the culture.

I've been collecting pieces for this show for more than 15 years, so clearly this is not a passing fancy of mine. And I while I may be preaching to the choir, it is my very strong belief that comic books are fine art. That this particular brand of fine art happens also to be commercial should be cause for celebration not condemnation. When I selected the show premiere date of May 6, 2011 (two years ago), this was the only event happening in the world of comic book art. When I handed out over 5,000 postcards at Comicon International last year announcing the line-up of artist and writers, the release date of the Thor film had not yet been selected and Free Comic Book Day was barely slated for the first Saturday in May. There was definitely no evidence to suggest that a Frank Miller Dark Knight page would be offered via Heritage Auctions or that it would sell for more than one hundred thousand dollars on the same weekend. I by no means claim credit for this convergence of events, but I thank the powers that be for this incredible synergy. There will be three separate film crews covering the opening night celebration. I will be releasing my first book, a catalog of this exhibition. That book is 80 pages from cover-to-cover and it's available now from La Luz de Jesus Press for $7.95 plus shipping. It was important to me to keep it comic book sized (prestige format, like Dark Knight) and to make it affordable like the 80-Page Giants that inspired it.

Many comic book pros, filmmakers, musicians and other kindred spirits will be there, and I invite all of you and all of your friends. Please RSVP to info@laluzdejesus.com to get added to the guest list or to buy a catalog for the first Fine Art survey of Modern Comic Book Art. If this is a success, I'm sure that museum exhibitions will be next, and Pop-Sequentialism will become an ongoing event that can change focus by genre, process and other criteria that will keep the idea fresh while furthering the cause for increasing the respect for this criminally underrated medium.

Sincerely,
Matt Kennedy, your brother in geekdom.

POP-SEQUENTIALISM: Great Comic Book Art of the Modern Age
May 6-29, 2011. Opens Friday, May 6th @ 8PM.

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

We got Pick of the Week in the L.A. Weekly's Go LA Section!

Dave McKean Weekend!

One of the perks of this job is getting to work with truly amazing people all of the time. But occasionally, I get to collaborate with people who have had a direct impact on my life. Such is the case with Dave McKean.

Dave McKean is what we used to refer to as a "hyphenate." He's a multi-talented illustrator-photographer-comic-book-artist-graphic-designer-filmmaker-musician, who just happens to excel at each one of his specialties.

As an artist, Dave McKean changed the look of comic books when his illustrated-photo-assemblage works began gracing the covers of Neil Gaiman's reboot of the Sandman character at DC Comics. He next tackled an incredibly ambitious Batman tale that focused not on the caped crusader, but instead on the mental institution that housed the more macabre among his rogues' gallery. That story written by Grant Morrison was Arkham Asylum, and it quickly became (and remains) one of the best selling graphic novels of all time. His comic book works have won numerous well deserved accolades and awards, but he's also won a World Fantasy Award for "Best Artist," three Spectrum Awards in the categories of "Advertising", "Book", and "Comic," A British Science Fiction Award in "Short Fiction" (shared with Neil Gaiman), and his film directorial debut, MirrorMask premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. His concept designs shaped the look and feel of two entries in the Harry Potter film series, and if your CD collection veers on the darker side of pop, metal, and avant-garde, odds are you've got a few Dave McKean images there, too. Did I mention that he's an accomplished jazz musician and discerning foodie?

So it would be an understatement to say that I'm feverishly proud to welcome Dave McKean this weekend at two incredible events:

On Friday, February 12th, from 6-9 PM, Dave is signing comics, books, DVDs, CD's and limited edition art prints at La Luz de Jesus Gallery (inside the Soap Plant / Wacko complex at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., LA, CA 90027). For every item that purchase at the signing, Dave will sign one item that you bring from home. NO EXCEPTIONS! So don't bring your entire collection of Sandman comics for him to autograph unless you plan on buying 75 items at the signing. He's a wonderful guy and he'll be happy to speak with you and answer questions -especially about his new body of work, which is debuting on Saturday night at Billy Shire Fine Arts.

New Works from Early Cinema is showing in conjunction with Nitrate & Kinogeists, an event sponsored by Chicago's Century Guild and includes highlights from their inventory of historically significant and undeniably beautiful silent film posters, most of which have been lost and unseen by the public before now. In addition to large format paintings, Dave has included a series of ten smaller ink illustrations that are priced for fans. Believe me -you can totally afford these, so check out the preview on Thursday evening. Whether you're a comic book fan or a patron of the fine arts, if you've been looking to add a McKean original to your collection, this is your opportunity to do so. Whether you're a comic book fan or a patron of the fine arts, if you've been looking to add a McKean original to your collection, this is your opportunity to do so. There are also some limited edition prints for which this will be a Release Event.
Since the exhibition references and pays tribute to lost films from the silent era, there will be a Video Installation with two screens playing footage of recently unearthed and restored films previously thought lost. The artist's reception is Saturday, February 13th, from 7-10 PM at Billy Shire Fine Arts, 5790 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. A full and complete preview will be available by Thursday evening. The paintings and posters are live on site now.