Sunday, May 31, 2009

MoCCA festival - June 6th & 7th - table #403


Next weekend, June 6th and 7th, I am participating in the 2009 MoCCA Festival at the 69th Regiment Armory at Lexington Avenue and 25th Street in New York City. 

You can find me at a table with two other SVA graduates, the fabulous Sophia Wiedeman and the always inspiring Dunja Jankovic. And I'm looking forward to meeting Maria Sputnik, who will be with us too. All these MoCCA-chicas have much more comic book experience than I, and yet they are kind enough to allow me to play along. 

I will be selling signed copies of my books Alphabetic Ballyhoos and The R. U. Fauna Department Store Catalog, along with other wares, such as original art, hand-bound stationery, gift tags, t-shirts, and sandwiches (yes, sandwiches), and I'll throw in some free stuff. I hope to see you there!

If you've never been to the MoCCA Festival, it's a great way to see what's happening in the world of comics and graphic novels. All of the major publishers (Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, etc.) are there, beside a stunning array of independent, international comic book artists. It's also a great fundraiser for MoCCA, a tiny museum with a big purpose, on lower Broadway. 

The festival will be open to the public from 11:00am to 6:00pm Saturday, June 6th and Sunday, June 7th
General admission is $10/day or $15/weekend but is only $10/weekend for MoCCA members. 

Friday, May 15, 2009

artafacta: ideovigilancia


This month, I was invited to submit a piece for an online fanzine called "Artafacta." The creators, a group of Spanish illustrators and designers, take two words and smash them together to create a third word, the theme of which participants are asked to illustrate. This month's word was "ideovigilancia." Check out the link below to see the other submissions and just in case you can't figure out the translation yourself, the imagery will certainly help. The page preceding mine features the work of my classmate at SVA, the extremely talented AndrĂ© da Loba. Stayed tuned for next month; they're working their way through the alphabet, so "J" is next.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

the thesis show-the r. u. fauna department store




The Thesis Show reception was a great success Tuesday night. Over 750 people visited the Visual Arts Gallery on West 26th Street to see the SVA MFA Illustration and MFA Design installations. Above are a few images from my part of the show, The R. U. Fauna Department Store, at a quieter moment this weekend with my nephews. (That's Will reading the "Formal Wear" section of the catalog.)

The R. U. Fauna story began deep in the rainforest, where founder Rufus Ulysses Fauna, billionaire, adventurer, naturalist, and lifelong clotheshorse enjoyed his first vacation. Never before had he witnessed such diversity and ingenuity outside of the retail world, and he knew bringing it home would set his chain of dry goods stores apart from the competition. For the rest of his life, R. U. continued his travels, hiring the mammals, reptiles, crustaceans, and domesticated creatures he encountered along the way. The exhibition documents the unique history of the R. U Fauna Department Store, featuring a merchandise catalog, employee portraits, and a display of befanged gift boxes.

The Thesis Show is up through Saturday, May 16th, at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 W. 26th, 15th floor. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 10AM to 6PM.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

the art directors club






This week I was invited to participate in a portfolio review day at the Art Directors Club in New York City. Over 100 recent graduates were showing their wares. Chaired by Matteo Bologna (of Mucca Design) and Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (author of “Bembo's Zoo”), participants met a wide variety of art directors, ad agency representatives and publishers. Here’s my set up...with me.