Mcdonnell, creator of Mutts, delving into new works
Comics lovers know Patrick Mcdonnell for his syndicated strip Mutts, which since 1994 has been following the adventures of Earl the dog and Mooch the cat.
For the first time in his career, Mcdonnell, 65, is showing work other than his comic strip. On view in “Side Effects,” through Oct. 3 Downtown in Ohio State University’s Urban Arts Space, are 52 paintings Mcdonnell created between 2016 and the present. The large, abstract works, filled with humor and irony, pay tribute to masters of modern art and especially, masters of comics.
“Picasso” — created like most of the paintings with acrylic latex and oil paint, oil stick, ink and pencil on canvas — envisions Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy and Sluggo with geometrically-contorted faces al a Pablo Picasso.
Nancy and Sluggo appear in a number of other paintings including “Gallerygoers” and “Yep (I Like to Visit Galleries)”, both of which place the cartoon kids in front of huge Jackson Pollocklike splatter paintings.
A section of the gallery presents panels and memorabilia from many of the comics artists to whom Mcdonnell is paying tribute: Bill Holman (Smokey Stover), Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie) and Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), among them.
“Like all good comic characters,” Mcdonnell writes in an exhibit panel, “there’s an innocence about them that made them good conduits for my observations, emotions and artistic inclinations.”
The theme throughout his paintings is one of innocent characters pulled into the mayhem of contemporary life, including nuclear fears (mushroom clouds are a running motif ) and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Morris Feitlebaum, the father in Milt Gross’ Nize Baby, appears in a number of Mcdonnell’s paintings, usually getting pummeled by forces in today’s world. In “Life (‘Nuff Said),” he wrestles with three colorful globes of the Earth, each one getting the better of him.
The exhibit was delayed because of the pandemic, giving Mcdonnell time to increase the number of works. Now, it is running concurrent with “Dog Show: Two Centuries of Canine Cartoons,” an exhibit that features Mcdonnell’s Mutts, at OSU’S Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
“Side Effects,” showing a different side of the artist, merges the comics world with abstract expressionism — an inventive, appealing and thought-provoking combination.
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