Mixed Media
Illustrated! Masters of Graphic Novel Art
Santa Fe-based artist Jamie Chase’s career as a painter and graphic novel illustrator inspired the exhibition Illustrated! Masters of Graphic Novel Art, which showcases the work of professional illustrators from around the U.S. The show, curated by Chase, includes examples of commissioned artwork as well as drawings, watercolors, prints, and paintings from the artists’ more personal bodies of work. “It’s highly unusual to show comic art in a fine-art environment,” Chase said. “People who don’t know the artists’ names might know the characters they’ve drawn over the years, like Elektra, Wolverine, and Batman, or stories like Mars Attacks!” Chase, whose work is in the show, is an abstract and figurative painter who has done illustrations for recent editions of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for Sequential Pulp, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics.
The exhibit includes works by award-winning illustrators Bill Sienkiewicz, who contributed artwork for the graphic novels Elektra: Assassin and The Sandman: Endless Nights; George Pratt, known for his work on Wolverine and Batman comics; and Kyle Baker, who has illustrated comics featuring Dick Tracy, Howard the Duck, and Cyrano de Bergerac. The exhibit also has pieces by Scott Hampton, who is working on adapting
American Gods, Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel, which was recently made into a television series; it premieres April 30 on the Starz network. The artists selected for the show are innovators in their field. Artists in attendance sell autographed editions of their books and art, and the event includes a costume contest. Illustrated! opens with a 5 p.m. reception on Friday, April 7, at City of Mud (1114-A Hickox St., 505-954-1705).