Charles A. Hartman Fine Art

The gallery that represents me, Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, has relaunched their site. I believe it would be categorized by people in my Ohio hometown as "right purty." Take a gander.

Post It, Seattle

Tonight in Seattle! Visit some tiny drawings, hang out, wear flannel. Do it.

The details:

Foxing &Friends
7pm at The Fantagraphics Book Store
1201 S. Vale Street (at Airport Way S.)
Seattle, Washington

They've Been In My Pocket... They're Real Warm and Soft

Tonight at Gallery 1988, Crazy 4 Cult 5 opens. My above contribution (grandiosely titled "The Spoils of War") will be somewhere on the school bus. I can't make it to the opening, but if you're in the Los Angeles area, stop by and check out all the homage (and damage) paid to a wide variety of films.

Game Over 4

On Friday, Giant Robot San Francisco will open the doors on Game Over 4, a show inspired by video games and their various pixelated worlds. I contributed last year, and am honored to be included again this year.

This time around I had Pac-Man on the brain, due in no small part to google's somewhat recent distraction. And I loved the Pac-Man cartoon. And I had... the record? Yes, I had a Pac-Man 45. And a Sesame Street disco album. That and murder mysteries went a long way toward making me whatever I am today.

I won't be able to make it to the opening, but I'm sure it will be an amazing gathering of arcade and basement born enthusiasm. Here's the skinny:

Game Over IV at GRSF, March 4, 2011 - March 30, 2011
Reception: Friday, March 4, 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
618 Shrader Street San Francisco, CA 94117

Artists include swell people like Esao Andrews, Jeffrey Brown, Farel Dalrymple, Little Friends of Printmaking, Jeremy Tinder and a heap more.

New Chicago Comics on NBC Chicago

NBC Chicago was kind enough to do some chatting and gesticulating with Mr. Jeffrey Brown and myself, in service of the New Chicago Comics exhibit.

I am pleased to report that I managed to say "fart" on the nightly news. It's my goal to take (f)arts journalism to such lofty heights.

Jim Henson's Fantastic World

On a day meant for giving thanks, I have a lot of people in my life to give thanks for. One of those people, unfortunately no longer with us in person, is Jim Henson. There are few people that have had a greater influence on my art and my life than Mr. Henson did. From his work ethic, to his playful experimentation, to his thorough goodness and kindness, he has always been someone I've looked up to. So I couldn't have been happier to be surprised by someone else I'm thankful for (my wife, Emily), with a belated birthday present trip to the Museum of Science and Industry's exhibit of Jim Henson's work.

If you'll be in Chicago for any reason before January 23rd, you owe yourself a walk through this collection.

I can't really do the exhibit justice, but I can say it was easily one of the greatest displays I've ever seen. If you grew up in my generation, there were any number of puppets, muppets, and drawings that made you smile in recognition. And the small children running around shouting out the characters' names and renewing the joy that Henson brought to the world had me leaving the place feeling a renewed faith in life.

There were a great deal of facts that I hadn't known about Henson, like his start as a cartoonist...



or the fact that he started and ran a poster shop in college. In fact he seems to have gone through the careers of almost all of my friends (cartoonists, filmmakers, poster artists, etc.), all in one lifetime. And he wasn't too shabby at any of them.



One of my favorite bits in the exhibit was a wall where visitors could make their own arrangements of felt shapes, eyes, clothes, and accessories to form their own two-dimensional muppet. This one was left by an unknown author and I felt compelled to preserve it.



This floored me, as it would anyone who grew up with Sesame Street. The original sketch of Bert and Ernie (which you can see again on the desk as Bert is being sculpted).



Above the printers in my studio, I have a picture of the puppeteer who inhabits Big Bird. He's only got on the bottom half of the costume, the citrus orange tree trunk legs, and he's just sort of dancing, hamming it up for the photographer. The photograph is from some issue of the New Yorker, I don't recall the issue or the date.

I don't know why the photograph was taken or have any sort of context for it, but I've held on to it, as it seems a perfect illustration of Henson's world. The old puppeteer is at work, but he is smiling and dancing, before he puts on the rest of his bright, improbable costume to make another generation run around, screaming its collective head off, singing songs taught by weird, furry, loving animals and monsters.

Thanks again, Jim. We love you.

illust_ratio 3 Show

This show ended on the 20th, but the good people of illust_ratio were kind enough to send along some links to pictures. It looks like it was a great event in a really unique space. It also looks like my Huge Suit strip (examined very seriously by some gentlemen in the above picture) was arranged in an order I can't immediately comprehend, which makes me wish even more that I could have have flown out for the opening. But I'm only on my second date with the TSA and I'm not sure I'm ready for all that heavy petting.

Two Groups, Two Countries

A couple of upcoming group events: the first is "illust_ratio 3" in Rüsselsheim, Germany. Illust_ratio a show of illustrators and cartoonists (among them the late great Heinz Edelmann of "The Yellow Submarine" fame) from the pages of the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. I won't be in attendance, but it sounds like a great show if you're in the area and able to make it. The show runs from October 23rd to November 20th. Unless my German is even worse than I think it is (and I think it's really bad), the opening is on October 22nd. Visit their site for more information.

The second event, where I will be signing or whatever we deem acceptable behavior, is at Quimby's in Chicago on November 5th. Julia Rothman, Jenny Volvovski, Matt Lamothe, Lauren Nassef, Isaac Tobin, Lilli Carre, Anders Nilsen and myself will be at that venerable shop to do our scratchings in The Exquisite Book, a collection of 100 artists participating in an exquisite corpse. The book, published by Chronicle, is out now. So pick up a copy and head over to Quimby's on the 5th of November. See you there.

Game Over 3 at GRSF

March 12th marks the opening of Game Over 3, a show of video game-inspired artwork hosted by Giant Robot San Francisco. If you're in the area, stop by and take a gander. You can see the flickr set of some of the artwork here. And below are my contributions. (Nerd bonus points go to the first person to name all three games that I'm aping.)

Eva Speer and the Gorgeous Amorphous

While in Portland installing my show at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, I was fortunate enough to see several of Eva Speer's amazing paintings and have wanted to recommend them here ever since. While the paintings and multimedia pieces are beautiful in small preview form, they're breathtaking when viewed in person. If you're in Portland, stop by the gallery and see if you can't pester Charles into showing you some of her work. It will be well worth the effort.

Super (Busy) Friends: Part 5

And finally in this multi-part thread: Anders Nilsen has a show – "Dirt and Grass" – opening this week at Home Gallery in Chicago. If you'll be in the area, be sure to visit the show: you're unlikely to find original art better than Anders'.

I'll be there gawking at his drawing like everyone else, and wondering how he had the time to put together his amazing individually-spraypainted books that were sent out with his invitations (and will be available at the opening).

Opening Tonight: Art, Books, and Prints Galore

Tonight is the opening reception for Cloistered in Crowds at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, featuring dozens of pages and covers from my books and various projects over the last seven years. I'll be there signing copies of the new hardbound edition of Mother, Come Home and trying to justify all the dejected characters on the surrounding paper.

We'll also have on hand the (above) signed and numbered, 14 x 14", five-color limited edition silkscreen produced for the show. The print's been pre-ordered online at a decent clip, so if you're not going to be at the show and want one, I'd highly recommend ordering now:

Click here to order the print via paypal.

While the gallery owner and installer were putting the show up, I signed and numbered these, and I have to say this is the nicest print in which I've ever had a hand. (A tip of the hat to Kristen Thiele who painstakingly registered and screened the design.)

If you're in Portland or the surrounding area, I'll hope to see you at the opening. If you're in Vancouver or Seattle, I'll see you in the next couple of days. Put on your best slacks and monocle.

Setting Up the Cloistered

Here are a few before and after pictures of Charles (the gallery owner) and Mark (installation guru) setting up "Cloistered in Crowds," opening tomorrow at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art. It probably speaks poorly of me that the most interesting aspect of the installation process was seeing the vinyl lettering applied to the wall (something I would have butchered horribly). But to anyone else the show will be, I hope, more exciting than the lettering.

Demolition and Trailers

My (aforeposted) friend Michelle Maguire, of Pretty Patti fame, has a show opening next month at Chop Chop Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. If you live in – or find yourself swinging through – the middle of my home state, stop by and see her pictures of demolition derbies and Jim Zellinger's paintings of tractor trailers.

Cloistered in Crowds

In the near future I'll post more information about the events following this opening on April 2nd. But for now, here's the general announcement for the show, featuring a detail from the original art for my Poetry Foundation strip.

Cloistered in Crowds Print

Here are a couple shots (the finished above and the initial step below) of the limited edition print that will be sold in conjunction with my show "Cloistered in Crowds", opening April 2 at Charles A. Hartman Fine Art in Portland. The prints will be signed and numbered, and limited to an edition of seventy five.

I'll post information about purchasing the print online once the details are ironed out.

From One Cold Midwestern City to Another

I won't be attending this (unless my schedule shifts radically), but I'll have a couple pieces here, and it promises to be a great show...