Look — up in the sky — it’s a bird, it’s a plane! No — it’s the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s new headliner, Beyond the Cape! Comics and Contemporary Art.
The exhibition offers a new look at the relationship between contemporary artists and graphic novels and comic books.
Many of today’s most high-profile artists have been influenced by this genre and the exhibit takes a deeper look at how graphic novels and comics address societal issues of race, class, gender and politics.
“It’s exciting to see younger audiences express strong interest in this exhibition,” Kathleen Goncharov, the museum’s senior curator, said.
Goncharov — aided by Calvin Reid, senior news editor at Publishers Weekly and a comic book expert — has selected an eclectic, playful, and sometimes wickedly burlesque collection of video, photographs, sculpture, prints, and drawings in addition to rare comics and contemporary and historic animation for display.
The installation features more than 80 works by 40 artists, including Christian Marclay, Kerry James Marshall, Elizabeth Murray, Joyce Pensato, Raymond Pettibon, Peter Saul, Kenny Scharf and Michael Zansky among others. Works by Takashi Murakami and Yositomo Nara, who specialize in Japanese comics, or manga, are also highlighted.
“There is a long history here, in Europe and in Japan, between comics and fine art,” Zansky, whose work is prominently displayed, said. “Comics have a large influence in the culture and on contemporary artists. This exhibit showcases artists who are attracted to (the) quirky visuals and subversive content of adult comics.”
Zansky comes to the world of comics naturally. His father was Louis Zansky, who drew for the circa 1940s Classic Comics series of graphic adaptations of famous literary works. Michael Zansky’s Walking Figure, a 16-foot-high carved, burnt, and painted plywood panel of a giant foot on an octagonal foundation, is based on the Colossus of Constantine, a gargantuan marble statue of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
The work is displayed at the entry to the exhibit, next to and juxtaposed with Manuscript, a giant hennaed hand by Indian American artist Chitra Ganesh.
The show looks beyond the 1960s Pop Art movement, led by New York-centric artists such as Andy Warhol and Ray Lichtenstein, and features the “other” art movements from the ‘60s and ‘70s such as the Hairy Who and Bay Area Funk Art. Hairy Who artists Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, and Karl Wirsum, along with works by underground comic book artists such as R. Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Mimi Pond are also featured.
A highlight of the show is Chicago artist Kerry James Marshall’s comic series Rhythm Mastr, which documents violence in his hometown. Known for his flat, colorful paintings of contemporary black America, Marshall’s work is in high demand.
Although comics and graphic novels are part of a genre dominated by men, a number of women are highlighted in the show. New York artist Jody Culkin, in particular, raises the feminist bona fides of the exhibit with A Prophetic Drama. The 9-minute animated comic is based loosely on a play about mummies coming to life in the British Museum, written in 1875 by Harriet Hosmer, a celebrated 19th-century sculptor who also enjoyed dabbling in science fiction writing.
Also featured are Chitra Ganesh, figurative artist Elizabeth Murray and Jamaican feminist artist Renee Cox, known for upending sexist and racist stereotypes with her art. Beyond the Cape! runs through Oct. 6.