All posts by amt

Illustration Faculty Bob Sikoryak tackles Dostoyevsky

General Info, Illustration Faculty, Publications, , ,

sikoryak batman

Though originally printed in Drawn and Quarterly #3 all the way back in the year 2000, Illustration Faculty Bob Sikoryak’s fantastic interpretation of Dostoyevsky via Batman is making the rounds again on Drawn and Quarterly’s blog and a Very Short List, as well as drawn.ca and Again with the Comics. The comic, along with many others that have been featured in D & Q , will be included in the forthcoming collection of Bob’s work which is scheduled for release in the Spring of 2009.

You can read the entire comic here (or even better, buy the anthology in which it was originally printed) and make sure to keep your eyes open for Bob’s book in the future!

(Image by R. Sikoryak via Drawn and Quarterly)

Illustration Faculty in the new Blab! Magazine

Illustration Faculty, News, Publications, , , ,

guarnaccia in blab!

Monte Beauchamp’s annual collection of comics, illustrations and graphic design is on the stands and it features two members of the Illustration Department’s finest–our very own chair, Steven Guarnaccia and full-time faculty member, Nora Krug–along with a host of other fantastic illustrators and designers.

From the official press release:

Blab! Vol. 18 delivers like nobody’s business, with a decided focus on the comic arts. Underneath the covers by Ryan Heshka are a slew of all-new comic stories: Mark Zingarelli reveals the “Chick’s Club Taboo”; Euro-comics sensation Paco Alcazar tells a Lynchian superhero tale called “Obedience”; Peter Kuper dishes on the bullies that dogged him as a youth in “Bully for You!”; “Sirens of Silence” is cover artist Heshka’s wordless depiction of a post-global disaster existence; Sue Coe presents the true tale of Coney Island’s “Topsy the Elephant”; underground legend Skip Williamson serves up “Daddy Was a Lady,” a portrait of legendary drag queen Rae Burton; Steven Guarnaccia returns with the story behind the man who created Miniature Golf in “Moe Greene’s Hole in One”; Mark Frauenfelder of boingboing.com fame contributes the comic strip “Juicemaker’s Dream.” This volume introduces amazing new talent to the pages of BLAB!: Travis Louie, Nora Krug, Mark Zingarelli, Travis Lamp and MORE!

krug in blab!

You can see other sample pages from the new issue here, and you can buy the new issue (as well as back issues) from the lovely folks over at Fantagraphics.

Congratulations to Steven and Nora!

News about Illustration Alumni David Horvath & Ugly Dolls

Events, General Info, Illustration Alumni, Publications, , , , ,

bossy bear bookbossy bear with box

David Horvath, Illustration Department alum and co-creator of Ugly Dolls (with his wife Sun Min Kim, who is also an Illustration alum!), has a new toy out based on the title character from his first picture book, Bossy Bear. Both the book and the toy are available now at Giant Robot and online.

Additionally, the first ever Uglycon will be held this December. Here’s some info from David’s blog:

uglycon

UGLYCON!
Saturday December 8th at 6PM!
GIANT ROBOT
618 Shrader St
San Francisco, CA 94117

COSTUME CONTEST! Dress up as your favorite or least favorite UGLY
and win super secret prizes!

What is Uglycon? It’s original art, prints, paintings, hand made Uglys,
limited production Uglycon exclusives, and fun for all!

____

Congratulations to David and Sun Min on their continued success after Parsons!

(all images by David Horvath and Giant Robot)

Daniel Clowes–In the New York Times and on the Simpsons

General Info, Illustration Industry, Publications, , , , ,

mr wonderful title

mr. wonderful

For those of you who missed it, the New York Times magazines has been running a new installment of Mr. Wonderful, a comic created by Daniel Clowes (of Eightball fame), every week since mid-September. Luckily, you can access the first strip here and download the rest, as well! The strip runs through mid-January, 2008.

Also, I hope that some of you caught the episode of The Simpsons episode last night that featured not only Dan Clowes , but also Art Spiegelman (Pulitzer-prize winning creator of Maus) and Alan Moore (creator of Watchman–who discusses his appearance on the show here). Great stuff.

For a New York Times slideshow about the language of the graphic novel, go here.

Gagosian mixed media exhibition: Fit to Print

Exhibitions, , , ,

fit to print

Fit to Print
Printed Media in Recent Collage
November 12th-December 22nd, 2007
Gagosian Gallery
New York, NY

Fit to Print exposes the artist’s compulsion to react to the steady stream of information that the print media delivers on a daily basis. The works on view range from meditations on formal composition to personal perspectives on current events.

All works included in this exhibition have been made since January 2000, illuminating the vast extent to which contemporary international artists share an interest in the myriad forms of printed media while working within the traditional definition of collage. A thoroughly modernist invention, the use of collage first appeared in the work of Picasso and Braque and was embraced by the international Dada movement as a mode of political critique. Whether referring to autobiography, disposable pop culture, or actualities of global politics, the artists in this exhibition acknowledge the legacy of past practice by immediately utilizing mass-distributed, readymade print, and incorporating it directly into their work.

Read more information and see additional images here.

Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Ave.
New York, NY
info@gagosian.com

Rian Hughes @ the ADC November 15th

Events, , , , , ,

 

rian hughes

Veer Presents: Rian Hughes Design, Tea and Biscuits
Thursday, November 15, 2007 @ ADC Gallery
106 West 29th Street, NYC
6:30-9:30 PM

Make your way to the Art Directors Club for an evening of genteel design discussion and civilized refreshment with British illustrator, graphic designer, comics artist and typographer Rian Hughes.

For over 20 years, Rian Hughes has been fusing visual design with pop aesthetics. His distinctive panel art revolutionized the British comic industry, and his modernist graphic design and illustration style have been widely copied. Since 1996, Rian has released an astoundingly diverse range of display and text typefaces under the Device Fonts moniker.

Admission: $15.00
RSVP: http://www.veer.com/ideas/rianhughes/

Documentary and Book about Jay Ryan

General Info, Publications, Reviews, , , , , , , ,

jay ryan 3   jay ryan 1   jay ryan 2

Here this a short documentary about Chicago-based screenprinter and musician Jay Ryan. Besides being a former member of the band Braid and a current member of the band Dianogah, Jay is well known for his limited-run, hand-printed posters for events and bands. You might recognize his work from Andrew Bird’s recent album, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs (below) as well as countless gig signs and illustrations.

andrew bird jay ryan

A book about Jay’s work was already recently produced called, 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels: A Decade of Hot Dogs, Large Mammals, and Independent Rock: The Handcrafted Art of Jay Ryan. With writing by legendary producer Steve Albini and an introduction by rock-journalist Greg Kot, the book explores the history of Jay’s art and his process.

The Art of William Steig at the Jewish Museum

Events, Exhibitions, General Info, News, , , ,

steig donkeys

 

From The New Yorker to Shrek:
The Art of William Steig
November 4, 2007 – March 16, 2008
The Jewish Museum
New York, NY

Hailed as the “King of Cartoons,” William Steig had a long and acclaimed career as both a brilliant cartoonist and an award-winning, beloved author of children’s literature, including his 1990 picture book Shrek! (“fear” in Yiddish) which has been turned into a series of popular animated films. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1907, to Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Steig grew up in the Bronx and began illustrating for The New Yorker in 1930. His prolific association with the magazine is the longest by far of any of its cartoonists, with over 1,600 drawings as well as over 120 covers published during a period of 73 years. Scheduled for the centennial of the artist’s birth, this exhibition pays tribute to Steig’s incredible creativity by featuring a wide selection of original drawings for both his New Yorker cartoons and his children’s books such as Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Doctor De Soto, Amos & Boris, Brave Irene, Gorky Rises, Dominic, When Everybody Wore a Hat, and of course Shrek! as well as his less known mid-life “symbolic drawings.” This in-depth presentation also sheds light on Steig’s life as it relates to his work and will be complemented by a range of public and educational programs for both adults and children.

The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street
New York, New York 10128
Phone: 212.423.3200

Admission for students is $7.50 and free for all on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.

For an online exhibition component as well as other information, visit the Jewish Museum’s website here.

See a list of Steig-related events taking place in November here.

(artwork from Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969) by William Steig)

Guy Billout’s book reviewed in the New York Times

General Info, Illustration Faculty, Reviews, , ,

billout-frog

The New York Times wrote about artist & long-time Illustration faculty member Guy Billout‘s newest book in their special Children’s Book section.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The illustrator Guy Billout works the narrow but fertile territory where clarity intersects with mystery. It’s a place where the graffiti might read “René Magritte Was Here (de Chirico, Too),” but Billout’s concerns are his own: his drawings (or are they paintings? or both?) often employ tricks of scale and perspective, along with large expanses of deceptively flat color, compositions that resolve in witty visual jokes while tapping deeper currents of unease. They’re bright, figuratively and literally, like dreams dreamt under a noonday desert sun rather than in the usual shape-shifting murk.”

Read the rest of the article about Guy’s book The Frog Who Wanted to See the Sea here.

Read other articles in the New York Times Children’s Book section here.