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Comic iconoclasm: An exhibition
Catalog of an exhibition held at the ICA, London, the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, the Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester, and at other European locations through 1988.
104 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1986
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September 22, 2019
Sad that no one's reviewed this as of January 21, 2017. I suppose it's a bit obscure. The following is not a review, really. It's been years since I read it, but I figure general impressions are better than nothing. I do own a copy, but I'm committed to reading too many other things at the moment to reread it just now.
So what this is is an exhibition catalog from an art show at London's ICA. The theme was comics imagery in 20th century art (21st century art not actually existing at the time this was published. ) The usual suspects are here: Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, etc. Looks like it was an interesting exhibit, but the catalog is on the sedate side. Would have been nice to see more images reproduced in color, maybe better quality paper. I'm interested enough in both comics and modern art to really get a kick out of this, but your mileage may vary.
Addendum for September 22, 2019:
So after rereading this, I thought I'd add some thoughts. I definitely wish that I’d seen this exhibit in the flesh, so to speak. This catalog is fun, but a poor substitute. All too few of the photos are in color. Yes, I know costs must be kept down and all, but it definitely mutes the experience. What is one to think, for instance, to see a tiny black and white photo of a Kenny Scharf canvas and see that the title is “Oh God Green Rocks”? Considering his use of color is one of the things he’s known for, why black and white on ANY Scharf?
As with any art text, the essays range from Fascinating to Impenetrable, skewing more toward the latter I’m afraid.
Still, being a fan of both Art and Comics, this book just appeals to too many of my interests to ignore. I’ve certainly read art books that turned out to be much less interesting than this one. Not an easy book to come by, in my experience, but definitely recommended!
So what this is is an exhibition catalog from an art show at London's ICA. The theme was comics imagery in 20th century art (21st century art not actually existing at the time this was published. ) The usual suspects are here: Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, etc. Looks like it was an interesting exhibit, but the catalog is on the sedate side. Would have been nice to see more images reproduced in color, maybe better quality paper. I'm interested enough in both comics and modern art to really get a kick out of this, but your mileage may vary.
Addendum for September 22, 2019:
So after rereading this, I thought I'd add some thoughts. I definitely wish that I’d seen this exhibit in the flesh, so to speak. This catalog is fun, but a poor substitute. All too few of the photos are in color. Yes, I know costs must be kept down and all, but it definitely mutes the experience. What is one to think, for instance, to see a tiny black and white photo of a Kenny Scharf canvas and see that the title is “Oh God Green Rocks”? Considering his use of color is one of the things he’s known for, why black and white on ANY Scharf?
As with any art text, the essays range from Fascinating to Impenetrable, skewing more toward the latter I’m afraid.
Still, being a fan of both Art and Comics, this book just appeals to too many of my interests to ignore. I’ve certainly read art books that turned out to be much less interesting than this one. Not an easy book to come by, in my experience, but definitely recommended!
Displaying 1 of 1 review