Funny Garbage: 10 Years of Making the Web Worth Watching
Masters of American Comics Exhibition
Project Overview
This extensive exhibition, conceived by Funny Garbage co-founder John Carlin and Pulitzer prize winning artist Art Spiegelman, provided an in-depth view of 15 artists who use the medium of comic strips and comic books to express their own unique viewpoint of the world in which we live.
The exhibition traced the beginnings of American newspaper comic strips through the influential work of pioneering comic artists such as Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland) and George Herriman (Krazy Kat), who set the stage by defining the formal attributes of the genre in the early 1900s. The installation also included the groundbreaking work of Lyonel Feininger (The Kin-der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie’s World), E.C. Segar (Thimble Theatre), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), and Charles Schulz (Peanuts).
The second part of the exhibition followed comic books from the early Golden Age to the rise of the independent comics movement. With the rise of such series as Jack Kirby’s “Captain America” and “Fantastic Four”, comic books became the dominant popular medium for narrative illustration. In addition, the exhibit features work by Harvey Kurtzman (Mad Magazine), R. Crumb (Zap Comix) Art Spiegelman (Maus, In the Shadow of No Towers), Gary Panter (Jimbo), and Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth).
The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive, fully-illustrated catalogue co-published by Yale University Press.
The exhibition traced the beginnings of American newspaper comic strips through the influential work of pioneering comic artists such as Winsor McCay (Little Nemo in Slumberland) and George Herriman (Krazy Kat), who set the stage by defining the formal attributes of the genre in the early 1900s. The installation also included the groundbreaking work of Lyonel Feininger (The Kin-der-Kids and Wee Willie Winkie’s World), E.C. Segar (Thimble Theatre), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), and Charles Schulz (Peanuts).
The second part of the exhibition followed comic books from the early Golden Age to the rise of the independent comics movement. With the rise of such series as Jack Kirby’s “Captain America” and “Fantastic Four”, comic books became the dominant popular medium for narrative illustration. In addition, the exhibit features work by Harvey Kurtzman (Mad Magazine), R. Crumb (Zap Comix) Art Spiegelman (Maus, In the Shadow of No Towers), Gary Panter (Jimbo), and Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth).
The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive, fully-illustrated catalogue co-published by Yale University Press.
- WHAT: Art Direction, Creative Direction, Education, Print Design
- WHEN: November 20, 2006
