The Moldy Doily

I just wanna HOLD you

Outside the Lines

As you know I have recently been honored to work on a graphic novel job in collaboration with legend Gary Panter.  If you think you do not know his work, you're crazy (I mean, whhaat!??).  In the 1980s, Gary Panter was the designer of crazy cool sets for "Pee-wee's Playhouse.  You remember those  pictures decorating the Pee Wee Place and trading cards.  His illustrations for that landed him some emmys and his work has also appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and The New Yorker. He is considered one of  the most important cartoonists to emerge in the late 1970s and '80s!  According to some writers, he has flown under the art world's radar.  

I missed this book signing event at SKYLIGHT! bummer:

Self-described "art nerd" Gary Panter is the graphic-art god best known for his iconic cartoon Jimbo and the ingenious design ofPee-wee's Playhouse. (Remember Chairy and Pterri?) His newest book is a collaboration with Brooklyn-based publisher PictureBox, a comprehensive look back at Panter's 30-plus years as the "King of Punk Art." The two-volume set includes a monograph of over 700 images, essays by art and music critics and the artist himself, and never-before-seen sketches. Los Feliz's Skylight Books hosts this event, which includes a slideshow and Q&A hosted by another modern graphic-art heavy:Simpsons creator Matt Groening

Just recently released: a two-volume catalog of Panter's work that PictureBox published last month-

and according to this article in the Boston Globe by By Greg Cook - read below

Panter's paintings are populated by cartoony B-movie he-men, busty gals with guitars or guns, cute critters, monsters, and robots wandering through rotting industrial landscapes, treacherous jungles, or stripped-down abstract backgrounds that might be read as caricatures of the plains of Panter's Texas youth. Panter's style draws on bits of Dick Tracy, Jack Kirby's Marvel superheroes, psychedelic rock posters, Japanese monster movies, and Cubism. There's something Whitmanesque in his ravenous cataloging of our collective pop unconscious. Gender roles, sexuality, violence, heroism, failure, hopes, and fears get reflected back to us in a funhouse mirror. Still, as Pee-wee might say, the secret word is fun. 

 Panter imitates the look of cheap off-register print jobs and hand-painted Mexican street advertising with his repeated motifs, limited palette of bright acrylic colors, and outlines that don't quite line up with the colors underneath. In an era striving for perfection through technology, he embraces the flaws that in many ways define our humanity. His drawing is deliciously crude, like something scrawled in the margins of a high schooler's notebook or the gloriously messy low-fi buzz of punk rock. In "Helioport" (2002), this becomes an almost completely abstract tangle of thorny red lines scratched out atop a pink and white background. Some works feature busy and seemingly unrelated line drawings layered one atop the other. His lines never flow; he builds up lots of short, jagged strokes that crackle like cartoon lightning. It's the opposite of Japanese art star Takashi Murakami's sleek, airless cartoon creations. Panter's work is raw, sweaty, unleashed, maybe unhinged. But when Panter stumbles, we get random jumbles of cheesy characters in acid colors. Ink drawings from "Jimbo in Purgatory" (1997-2001), his ambitious comic-book reimagining of Dante's 14th century "Purgatorio," show Panter's trademark lunkhead Everyman, Jimbo, wandering a Purgatory populated by Frank Zappa, Boy George, Bruce Lee, Elvis, Alice Cooper, and Tiny Tim. "Duchamp set me free," Panter says in the catalog, "and now I'm running through the streets."

** In July I am getting flown over to NYC for the Comic Book Signing- and will let you know the details!

Til then you should go out and BUY his book:

Paint Your FACE with Nature

This past week the silent movie theatre hosted a sneak peak viewing of the new  Lavender Diamond film "IMAGINE OUR LOVE".  The event was also a fundraiser to help bring the rest of the film to life.  Echo Park pal and creative visionary Becky Stark has been talking about this fantastic film idea for ages.  She asked me to take part countless times, but as soon as I hear the word "choreography" I slink away swiftly.  For those who may or may not already know, dancing is not my specialty.  Actually "rhythm" is not my pal either.  

According to the article posted below (Pitchfork):

"When we made the record [Imagine Our Love], I just wasn't satisfied with makingone video," Stark confides over the phone. "I wanted to make lots of videos of us dancing in costumes, and there's so many incredible people in my neighborhood, there's so many ladies, I just really wanted to make a video with lots of ladies dancing, with, you know, costumes. I also so much wanted to tell a story, create a mythology for younger people. We have a lot of kids who are like three and four who love our record. They've listened to it a million times. But it's not just a movie for three and four year olds!"

Instead, what began its life as a "gangster earth liberation fantasy with [songwriter and friend] Ariel Pink as the kidnapper" has evolved into a truly magisterial story involving "an interplanetary journey to visit the cosmic mother's council to get the wisdom for how to liberate the Earth." There's a real lavender diamond, a stint in jail, a rescue from a bail bond-settling "secretary angel bird," and a climactic trip to a Chinese gem factory. Scenes routinely explode into Busby Berkeley-esque musical extravaganzas.

Stark explains, "We just decided to stage these really incredible celebrations, you know, fantasies. I feel like there really needs to be more dancing, and full celebration. Especially with women. Because in order for the Earth to come back into balance, I think that there really needs to be a strengthening for all people, but really for the feminine element. For women to really become equal in the world and our society is really how the Earth is going to come back into balance."

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/50975-lavender-diamonds-becky-stark-talks-film-projects

http://imagineourlove.uber.com/

BID ON THE ART AUCTIONS to help them get fund their VISION: http://ImagineOurLove.uber.com/artauction 

like flashes

I've been so tired lately and yet occasionally images appear in thought bubbles that I must capture and save. It's sort of like flashes on the brain and then GONE.

I've been meaning to get out more and take pics of things, but alas no time til next week.  Almost done with the graphic novel project, and then this weekend the SHOW PONY is having an art opening for Sandra Chi- amazing artist from Brooklyn.  She will be attending and there will be a music performance later by Lincoln Madley.  We may also be having a cool jewelry trunk show for KIMBERLY FAITH too.  I'll keep you all posted. It's Saturday the 7th from 7-10-ish or later.

Here's the art for the flyer from Sandra:

Here's some of the random things that have passed through my eyes this week that I thought you might like to see too...

Shhh... Sneak peek

intergalactic space drama, what will happen to the LOST ONES?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAL!

Well, it's not really an official birthday as much as a YEAR anniversary of our first acquaintance. Mr. Georgie Boy and I have been living happily ever after in bliss since last June 1st. If you want to get up to date on our past, feel free to hit the Georgie Boy link on the right and peruse the details all the way back to the first day. It's been quite a cuddly adventure. I know it's hard to imagine that I have fallen head over heals for an animal, but tis true, he "completes me" (that was for your sake Scheid). Whenever I get home- he's at the door waiting. He is the first thing I see in the morning and he always follows me from room to room. (the bathroom can be a tad awkward at times) Anyway, even though he is supposedly 8 or 9 years old, I'm sticking with him for another 30 plus years. Even if that means I have to taxidermy his sweet face. If I was any kinda mom I would throw a huge party for him. But I have to admit that this job sapped all of my energy. I will post some pics of the pages from my contribution to the comic tomorrow.