Category Archives: Reviews

NY COMICS & PICTURE-STORY SYMPOSIUM: ANYA ULINICH IN CONVERSATION WITH OLGA GERSHENSON

In 2014, Anya Ulinich abandons the world of prose with her new graphic novel, “Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel,” in which she deploys her competence as both a writer and an illustrator. This book is based on “Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel,” by Bernard Malamund, which narrates the story of a man who consults a marriage broker in search for a wife. In Anya Ulinich’s version, the magic barrel is a world of online dating, portrayed as a chaotic and intricate world many of us are familiar with. Anya was classically trained in art, but switched to writing upon her arrival in the States, as she stated having “no place to paint.” However, after her first book “Petropolis,” Anya found herself stuck, she felt like she was “impersonating a novelist.” After the rejection of her second book from her publisher, her agent asked her, “What else do you have,” and Anya showed her an assortment of doodles, sketches, diary-like pages; that was all she had. This was the beginning of a great and entirely new project. Even though Ulinich graduated from the University of California with an MFA in painting and had previously written a novel (non-graphic), she maintains having known very little about comic books prior to this project. Nonetheless, this book brings Ulinich’s work to a whole other level of notability, creating a new visual and written language all of her own.

Essentially the book tells the story of a woman, Lena, (also the narrator), who much like Anya herself, is a late 30s divorced mother and novelist from Moscow, teaching and living in Brooklyn with her two daughters. It recounts Lena’s attempts to mend her views of love and sex, through social media platforms such as OKCupid, but there is much more complexity to the plot that Ulinich had in mind. The work appears as a sort of revealing, sequence of journals, which uncover and examine the main characters, and thus indirectly the author’s life and psyche from within. Through subtle details, we come to learn much about the reality of Ulinich’s life and upbringing.

“Lena Finkle’s Magic Barrel” successfully and deeply captivates its viewers as we are both told and shown a story simultaneously. Her drawing style is rather ostentatious, thrilling, powerful, and witty, yet it is somehow always dark, or cloudy or night-time. Moreover, Anya’s drawing technique of combining quick sketches and more finalized illustrations into a style which is naturalistic, impressionistic and at times, cartoony, parallel the protagonist’s constant efforts to make sense of the diverse pieces of her life.

In her book, Anya Ulinich does not attempt to hide anything. We follow the protagonists’s most mundane actions and watch her in all her imperfect and tremendous humanity, resulting in a stronger bond and connection between character and reader. Anya Ulinich is both witty and serious, kind and straightforward, ruffled and unapologetic. The pages mostly dominated with words take a bit of getting used to, yet the experience is truly rewarding. I personally believe that books such as this one, gorgeously created, cleverly recounted and fancifully illustrated are such masterpieces and treasures.

-Noe Paparella

Art Forum reviews Garrett Pruter’s current solo show, ‘Mixed Signals’

Parsons Illustration alum Garrett Pruter‘s (’10) show was reviewed in Art Forum‘s Critic’s Picks.

“Grounded in found photographs gleaned from various sources, Garrett Pruter‘s recent body of work lends new visual life to images threatened with obsolescence. For June Gloom (all works 2011), Pruter has inflated a print to sprawling dimensions and then scraped away at the raw, wetted photographic emulsion with a dull blade, leaving a somewhat spectral scene scored with evenly paced yellow notches. In Washed Out, abstract patterns from a scrimlike layer have been cut out and placed over a blown-up image. See also Ship Wrecked, where pieces of the photographic print itself have been excised, resulting in a pocked and perforated surface. By contrast, Mixed Signals is additive, with cutout shapes from a found poster placed below an enlarged, anonymous portrait of two individuals. In each instance, the relationship of the pattern—either subtracted, abstracted, or superimposed—to the original imagery is quirky; all seem arbitrary and interrogative, evocative and suggestive rather than tendentious.

Three collage pieces—respectively titled Los AngelesBlackout, and Flesh—feature repurposed magazine images, cut into squares and layered in abstract patterns. Flesh fittingly derives from vintage editions of Playboy and Penthouse. Abstracted into a field of pinkish (and seemingly pixilated) geometries, it bears only a metonymic relationship to more carnal origins. Similarly, Los Angeles, taken from aerial photographs of the eponymous city, plays on layers of removal from its original urban source, slicing up photographs into a series of formal facets.

The exhibition’s most striking piece is an installation incorporating various 35-mm slides—again culled from random sources—projected onto a curved mold, covered with tessellated mirror fragments. Cast onto the wall in intervals, the resultant images appear distorted and distended though still discernible in their basic dimensions, whether as landscape or portrait. Prutter seems to be hitting his stride in terms of a play between photographic removal and objective presence—a cocktail that he is bound to take in compelling directions.” -Ara H. Merjia

Garrett Pruter, “Mixed Signals”, Feb. 9 – March 11, 2012, Charles Bank Gallery , 196 Bowery, NYC

images:  Flesh (l); Ship Wrecked (r)

NYTimes: ‘Tintin’ Film Casts Cars Among Star Performers

On Sunday, November 27, The New York Times published an article about the new film adaptation of ‘The Adventures of Tintin“. The 3-D film, in theaters December 21, is directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson. The classic European tale stars more than the little orange haired reporter, notably, the 1937 Ford V-8. Read the article here: ‘Tintin’ Film Casts Cars Among Star Performers

Steven Guarnaccia interview for The Rumpus

Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia attended the First Annual Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival and was interviewed Katie Geha of therumpus.net Here’s an excerpt of Katie’s article:

Steven Guarnaccia, Chair of the Illustration Department at Parsons, is generous in talking with me about the contemporary comics scene. He explains that while illustrators once created images to respond to a text given by a client, say a magazine or a newspaper, now more and more artists are creating their own texts. “When I came to the program around six years ago,” Guarnaccia says. “It was very clear that the most exciting stories were being generated by the artists themselves.” These visual narratives have since translated to a larger cultural realm as artists move beyond the comic book, creating toys and t-shirts, and often exhibiting prints in art galleries.

The article also mentions Illustration Alum Leah Hayes, so make sure to check out the rest of the write-up here.

MoCCA Follow-Up Week: Christine Young

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Editor’s Note: This week, we are featuring three entries by students who worked at the Parson’s Illustration tables at the MoCCA Festival this past June.  Our final narrative installment is by newly minted Illustration Alum, Christine Young.

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The MoCCA Fest was so much funnnn! Even though it was really hot in there and I felt like I was about to pass out by the end of it, I would have gladly done so because it was such a great experience seeing a bunch of great art, comics, zines and shirts and meeting cool artists and people from all around the world all under one huge roof! Our Parsons Illustration table had a lot of great prints, books and zines by our fellow students (ya’ll rule), and we sold a bunch too! Among those who were there repping our department were: Beryl Chung, Sophia Chang, Katie Turner, Grace Lang, Sydney Seltzer, Kevin Lee, and Steven Guarnaccia.

Along with selling and trading, I did alot of buying cuz it’s really hard not to cuz of all the amazing things, which was very overwhelming, in the best way possible. I was running around like a school kid after lunch. There were Parsons teachers there too at their own tables such as Neil Swaab, Nora Krug and Tara McPherson selling mad stuff, ya know, no big. And, there were guest lectures by artists such as Adrian Tomine and Gary Panter who were signing stuff all day. Sophia got Adrian to sign her a poster and book, and he did a really cool doodle and I was jealous.

And soooo to sum it up, by the end of the day I went home from Mocca a very happy person with a bag full of awesome comics, zines, shirts and most importantly, a brand new list of art crushes.

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Thanks for the write-up, Christine!  Make sure to check out Christine’s website and her blog to see more of her work.

MoCCA Follow-Up Week: Sophia Chang

Editor’s Note: This week, we are featuring three entries by students who worked at the Parson’s Illustration tables at the MoCCA Festival this past June.  First up, a narrative and sketches by Rising Senior Sophia Chang.

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So I had the pleasure of having a table at MoCCA Festival along with other Parsons students including Katie Turner, Beryl Chung, Grace Lang and Christine Young.  Check out their stuff!

I felt like I was in a microwave the entire time, the humidity of everyone’s body sweat evaporating and condensing was absolutely delicious! I say that sarcastically. On the real though, MoCCA was an awesome experience, being in a room with upcoming artists and surrounded by printed matter! Afterall print is slowly slowly dying…

I specifically enjoyed the Norwegian, Swedish and German/Berlin tables, offering some great perspective on their visual language. Just sitting at the table and watching the different unique people pass by was an experience of its own. I started sketching down all the interesting people I saw towards the end of my stay.

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Thanks for the firsthand account, Sophia!  Make sure to check out Sophia’s website and blog for more about her work.

Ronnie Lawlor’s book cover gets some press!

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Parsons Illustration Alum and current Adjunct Faculty member Veronica Lawlor sent this email and fantastic image my way the other day.  Here’s the scoop from Ronnie herself:

I did a book jacket a few months ago for a journalist’s account (James Hider) of the Iraq War called Spiders of Allah. It was recently reviewed in Time online, with my cover featured prominently. I’m really happy with the way the jacket turned out and the book is excellent.

You can check out the book review here and, even better, you can see more of Ronnie’s work at her website and blog.

Thanks for passing along the good word, Ronnie and congrats!

Guest Entry: Roxie Vizcarra at the Pictopia Festival!

Editor’s Note: This guest entry comes from Illustration Senior Roxie Vizcarra, who participated in the Pictopia/Pictoplasma Festival in Berlin, Germany this past March.

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When the Illustration Department invited me to help represent them at this year’s Pictopia Festival (part of the acclaimed character design organization Pictoplasma), I was excited to be able to visit a city I’ve never been to, especially one with some much history as Berlin. What I didn’t know at the time was that there couldn’t have been a more perfect location for Pictopia to take place. It’s impossible to go very far without encountering some form of art that incorporates strong character design.

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I spent a couple of days watching over Parsons’ exhibition, Ugly is Beautiful, at the Collegium Hungaricum, which also featured work by other Pictopia Character Walk artists. The set-up for the show was long and tedious, but in the end it was worth the effort as everything looked fantastic, and I can attest to the fact that most people who came by to have a look were rather impressed by the variety of unique characters Parsons students have to offer.

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Guest Entry: Emmanuel Tavares at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair

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Please enjoy this guest entry from Parsons Illustration senior Emmanuel Tavares, who accompanied our chair, Steven Guarnaccia to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair from March 23rd to Thursday 26th.

Man, do my feet hurt. The Bologna Children’s Book Fair did this to me. It also introduced me to a ton of publishers, directors, artists, and books that i had no idea even existed. The fair is one of the largest children‘s book fairs in the world. It has been held annually in Bologna, Italy for 46 years. After taking Pat Cummings’ Children’s Book class I thought I had an idea of what to expect, and I sort of did. There was just so much more of it. There were hundreds of booths, samples, framed pieces, and words I could not understand. Fortunately we deal with images and the amazing artwork more than bridged the language gap. There were publishers from everywhere including India, Jamaica, Portugal, New Zealand,  Israel, Sri Lanka, Finland, and Australia ( I never understood why a continent would be listed as a country). In all there were 1,300 exhibitors from 69 countries.

Prior to my trip I was put in touch with Marcella Terrusi, the moderator for the week long forum of scheduled discussions at the fair called the “Illustrator’s Café”. Between here advice and Steven’s introducing me to some of his friends in the publishing world there I was able to meet and speak with many publishers who my personal work would pair well with. This was a great opportunity to get insight on what the decision makers in the children’s book publishing world are thinking about when looking at an artist’s work.

I was also asked to speak at the Illustrator’s Café on a panel discussion about Illustrator Blogs. It was a great honor to be on a panel with illustrators Pablo Auladell and Anna Castagnoli and to represent Parsons to such a diverse group of professionals.

The fair was an amazing opportunity to make very important contacts that I was able to take advantage of. The response to my panel discussion was also very reassuring as there were even a few of the audience members from New York who later spoke with me about later contact. I look forward to maintaining contact with the people I’ve met during my trip. And so I’m off to complete a long list of e-mails!

Emmanuel

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Here is a gallery of images that Emmanuel collected during his visit.  Also make sure to pop over to his website and his blog for more about Emmanuel’s life, art, and career.

Thanks for the recap, E!

Video of Tara McPherson’s art & info about Flatstock

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Check out this great video–narrated by art critic Julia Morton–featuring Illustration Adjunct Faculty Tara McPherson and her exhibition “Lost Constellations” on view through March 22nd at Jonathan Levine Gallery.

You can also catch Tara (and her artwork) at Flatstock 16 in Austin, Texas this week.  Flatstock brings poster artists from around the world for the bi-annual convention sponsored by the American Poster Institute, dedicated to the promotion of music poster art and design worldwide.  Tara will be manning a table at the following times:

Thursday, March 13 (1:00PM – 6:00PM)
Friday, March 14 (11:00AM – 6:00PM)
Saturday, March 15 (11:00 – 6:00PM)

You’ve heard the sordid tales of deluxe poster prints sold to you (the fans) by the artists themselves, now come see for yourself. FLATSTOCK 16 is free for everyone so come one come all!