Tag Archives: New York

Tara McPherson solo show at Jonathan Levine

tara mcpherson

Parsons Illustration Adjunct Faculty Tara McPherson is currently showing new works at her first solo show for the Jonathan Levine Gallery, here in New York. Here’s the official press release:

For the artist’s first solo show at the gallery, Lost Constellations features a new series of oil paintings and resin-cast sculptures, incorporated into a site-specific installation. The sculptures are a new experience for the artist, who has never before worked in this medium, three-dimensionally in full-scale proportions.

The painted portraits in Lost Constellations depict adventurous super-heroines from an alternate universe, crossing dimensional planes of time and space. McPherson considers the idea of parallel existence through the use of multiple views or angles on a subject, inspired by the Einstein cross (a phenomenon caused by gravitational lensing) while her series of bodily transfigurations convey principles on the physical manifestation of thought. A reoccurring cast of female characters appear in various states of action-fighting battles and growing toward self-discovery. Using her signature bold and graphic style, Tara’s imagery explores love, loss and loneliness through variations on strength, vulnerability and female empowerment. Concepts of non-verbal communication and the evolution of spoken language are explored as well, along with an interpretation on the circle of life- represented through transitional properties of water particles: gas, liquid and solid.

One of the first women to gain recognition in a genre (and greater Art world) dominated by Male artists, Tara McPherson is a role model for younger female artists in the movement. A multi-faceted artist, she has successful careers in both Fine Art and Illustration. Her process remains the same in commissioned illustrations as in her personal work. Tara only does what she enjoys, never compromising her talent or individual sense of creative expression. Fine Art allows McPherson to develop a deeper, more intimate narrative for her subjects. Through layers of paint and symbolism, ideas that take pages of storyboard to convey in illustration projects can be condensed into a singular panel for one of her original pieces of artwork.

tara @ levine 2

Lost Constellations: Tara McPherson
Jonathan Levine Gallery
Feb 23 thru Mar 22, 2008
529 West 20th Street, 9E New York, NY 10011 ph:212-243-3822

Congratulations, Tara!

Early Notice: Splat: A Graphic Novel Symposium, featuring R. Sikoryak

splat

Among a host of others, Illustration Adjunct Faculty and Alum Bob Sikoryak will be taking part in Splat: A Graphic Novel Symposium. Here’s the official scoop:

SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 15
at the New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) in
Manhattan, with keynote speaker Scott McCloud. The NYCIP is a
non-profit educational program (part of the General Society of
Mechanics and Tradesmen) dedicated to promoting and supporting
independent publishers across the United States.

Graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular, creating a
groundswell of excitement and interest. Addressing the graphic
novel’s considerable impact on the public consciousness, the SPLAT!
Symposium, organized by the NYCIP, will provide an intensive
educational forum for the publishing community, educators, librarians,
and people eager to find out more about the comics universe. It will
also supply prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn
what it takes to be a graphic novelist.

The conference will feature a number of movers and shakers from the
graphic novel world, including: Scott McCloud (Zot! and Making
Comics); Jim Killen (Barnes and Noble); David Saylor (Scholastic),
Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-Sitters Club), Ted Rall (Attitude), CB
Cebulski (Marvel Comics); Bob Mecoy (Bob Mecoy Literary Agency); R.
Sikoryak (The Seduction of Mike); Nick Bertozzi (The Salon); and
Charles Brownstein (CBLDF).

SPLAT will consist of three different tracks of panels, seminars, and
workshops designed for the publishing industry, would-be creators, and
librarians to be followed by the SPLAT Gala Reception. The first track
will feature panels, including “Who Reads Graphic Novels?” and “How to
Get Published;” the second track will consist of hands-on workshops
such as “Storytelling” and “Where to Start with Art;” and the final
library-oriented track will include seminars on “Using Anime & Manga
to Light the Fire in Your Young Adult Collection” and “Defending Your
Graphic Novel Collections from Challenges and Censorship.”

The cost of the day-long Symposium will be $125; this will include
lunch and the Gala Reception with the keynote speaker, Scott McCloud.

Spread the word and catch this great event if you can. More information about registration can be found here and a complete breakdown of the panels can be found here. Don’t miss it!

SPLAT
NYCIP, The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, New York City. For more
212-764-7021
nycip@nycip.org.

Eddie del Rosario’s work in “Narrations” at Nancy Margolis Gallery

del rosario for margolis
“Contremps 1” study

Illustration adjunct faculty Eddie del Rosario has works featured in “Narrations,” an exhibition opening tonight, January 17th, at Nancy Margolis Gallery here in New York City. Here’s an excerpt from the gallery’s press release:

The Nancy Margolis Gallery is to exhibit works on paper by seven artists who create visual stories pulled from the subconscious, observations of reality, personal symbolism, and fictional fantasies. The simple materials, graphite, paint, and paper require little preparation for the artist to get started. The seven artists in Narrations are gifted draftsmen/women, and the work shows exacting concentration in spite of the spontaneous nature of the medium. Be they light and funny, dark and frightening, the outcome is carefully drafted minimalist drawings of quirky, strange, ambiguous scenes and figures.

Edward del Rosario, a Brooklyn based artist who received his M.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design, is known for his paintings featuring miniature people engaging in full-size power struggles. Rosario’s work displays the absurd games people are willing to play to obtain and preserve power within cultural clashes. Del Rosario received a 2007 MacDowell Fellowship, and his work can be seen in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

If you are in the New York Area, make sure to stop by and see Eddie’s work, as well as all the other pieces on display.

“Narrations”
January 17th – March 1st
Nancy Margolis Gallery
Tel: 212.242.3013
523 West 25th Street (between 10th Ave and 11th Ave)
New York, NY 10001

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10am-6pm

Illustration faculty co-hosts BCAT show about children’s books

selznick cummings and BCAT

If you’re the NYC area, don’t miss this great program, co-hosted by Illustration faculty Pat Cummings. Brian Selznick will discuss his award-winning children’s books, his artistic process, and his experiences in the illustration industry. Should be very enlightening!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
featuring Brian Selznick (and Pat Cummings)
BCAT (Time Warner ch. 34 & Cablevision ch. 67)
January 19th at 11:00 a.m.

Parsons Illustration Faculty included in Society of Illustrators show

billout anti-war

Several artists affiliated with Parsons Illustration are featured in “Artists Against the War“, a show presented by The Society of Illustrators in collaboration The Nation magazine. Parsons faculty members Wendy Popp and Guy Billout, as well as Illustration alum Peter Kuper all have works on view.

kuper anti-art

The official press release reads:

This show is the expression of over 60 of the top graphic artists and illustrators working in the United States and abroad whose anguish has compelled them to produce works that challenge the self-destructive ignorance, indifference, incompetence and corruption that is the result of US Middle East foreign policy. These works of art will give a voice to those whose views are not represented by the mainstream media. We will be using this forum as a way to support those most directly affected by the harsh consequences of military combat—the brave men and women who serve their country as well as their family members who must live with the affects of war long after the parades are over.

You can view images from the online show here and/or visit the Society before the show closes on January 26th, 2008. Additionally, there will be a panel discussion called, “The Media: The First Casualty in Iraq” which takes place Wednesday, January 23rd at 7 p.m. ($10/$6 for students).

popp anti-war

The Society of Illustrators
128 East 63rd Street (between Park and Lexington Avenues)
New York, NY 10021-7303
Tel: (212) 838-2560
E-Mail: info@societyillustrators.org

[Images by Guy Billout, Peter Kuper, and Wendy Popp.]

Illustration in the Age of Anxiety Video

View Illustration in the Age of Anxiety on FORA.tv

If you weren’t able to attend the Illustration Department’s mini-symposium “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” this past November, you are in luck! FORA.tv has an archive of the event which you can view at their website. The symposium focused on how illustration handles times of unease and anxiety in our culture, from the atomic anxiety of the 1950s to today’s wars and upheaval and featured three conversations lead by prominent and accomplished writers illustrators. For full descriptions of each session, check out our original write-up and make sure to head over to FORA.tv and watch the video.

[pictured above from left to right: Ruth Marten, Tara McPherson, and Nora Krug.]

Illustration Faculty Bob Sikoryak hosts Carousel

carousel 12-13

CAROUSEL

Cartoon slide shows & other projected pictures presented by a glittering array of artists, performers, graphic novelists, & other characters. Since 1997, Carousel has been presented around NYC at Dixon Place, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Makor, MoCCA Art Fest, and NY Comic Con, as well as at the San Diego Comic-Con, Small Press Expo, and the Blue Met Festival (Montreal).

Hosted by Illustration Alum and Faculty member R. Sikoryak

Featuring:
Robbie Busch
Megan Montague Cash
Danny Hellman
Michael Kupperman
Jim Torok
Lauren R. Weinstein

Thursday, December 13
8 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm)

Dixon Place
258 Bowery, 2nd Fl, between Houston & Prince
NY, NY

Tickets: $12 or TDF; $10 student/senior

You can by advance tickets & find more info at www.dixonplace.org or by calling (212) 219-0736.

Illustration & Design Within Reach Collaborate!

bellini chair specs

Students in Kenna Kay’s Beyond Editorial class have teamed up with Design Within Reach to produce their own renditions of a design icon–the Bellini Chair. Here’s the official announcement about Design Within Reach’s celebratory reception, which takes place next week:

______

Parson’s design students deserve a sitting ovation!

Once again, Parsons’ students have raised the bar with their well-tapped imaginations and fearless style. Incorporating materials of their choosing, students from Parsons’ Illustration department will exhibit their own inspired interpretations of the simple yet virtuous Bellini Chair by Heller. Using the Bellini as a blank canvas, students started with an idea on paper and finished the project fabricating a full-scale prototype. The students will join us for a reception at the West 14th Studio to share with you the fruits of their labor.

The “re-imagined” chairs will be critiqued by an esteemed panel of judges, including Alan Heller of Heller and floor covering designer Sandy Chilewich. Chairs will be exhibited in Studio through the month of January. Refreshments will be served.

______

Congratulations to all the students involved and thanks to Design Within Reach (and especially Bradford Shellhammer) for approaching the Illustration Department with the offer to participate in this fantastic project!

Re-Imagining the chair
Wednesday, December 12, 7-9pm
DWR West 14th Studio
408 West 14th Street
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.242.9449
Directions

John Hendrix posts drawings of “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety”

john hendrix sketchbook

This fantastic sketchbook drawing was created by former Illustration Department Faculty member John Hendrix during our recent symposium “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” which took place on Saturday, November 10th and featured lectures and panels by full-time faculty members Nora Krug, Ben Katchor, adjunct faculty members Ruth Marten and Tara McPherson, and legendary illustrators Ed Koren and Ed Sorel.

Visit John’s blog to see his other interpretation of the Symposium, as well as interesting tidbits on his own work and from around the Illustration field.

(Image by John Hendrix)

Upcoming show at Giant Robot: Adrian Tomine

tomine at giant robot

Illustrations and art by Adrian Tomine will be shown in a new show at Giant Robot, which opens on December 8th with a book signing. Adrian’s most recent work, Shortcomings, has garnered critical praise from all over. Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times book review:

Tomine has always been attracted to love gone wrong among the hesitant young men and women of the bourgeois-bohemian set, but he gets his subject across in the unsentimental style of an anthropologist’s report. Unlike the more playful graphic novelists who influenced him, Daniel Clowes (“Ghost World,” “David Boring”) and the Hernandez brothers (“Love and Rockets”), Tomine isn’t given to flights of surrealism, rude jests or grotesque images. He is a mild observer, an invisible reporter, a scientist of the heart. His drawing style is plain and exact. The dialogue appearing inside his cartoon balloons is pitch-perfect and succinct. He’s daring in his restraint.

_____

Read the full text of the review here, head over to Giant Robot website to see a little sneak peek of the art that Adrian will be showing, and if you can’t make it to the show, pick up your own copy of Shortcomings through Drawn & Quarterly.

Adrian Tomine
Shortcomings and Goings
Opening: Saturday, December 8th @ 6:30 p.m.
Giant Robot
437 East 9th Street