This is excellent news…this is a show that I dearly want to visit but was having an issue planning a safe trip to West Bend! Well now I have a bit more time to work it out and then do a write up here! Here is some background and click this link for more info on the show and how to see it during the COVID-19 era.
Extended through January 10, 2021
Wisconsin Funnies is the first exhibition to present the rich history of comics in Wisconsin. The nearly two hundred works by twenty-five artists will illustrate the major themes, innovations, and publications that characterize the state’s past half-century of comic art. The exhibition pairs hand-drawn original art with printed material such as comic books, alternative weekly newspapers, and other collectibles and ephemera.
Wisconsin Funnies is on view at both the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s “mother ship” in West Bend and MOWA | DTN, located in downtown Milwaukee at Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel. MOWA | DTN will feature comics with a political bent; the West Bend location will offer a comprehensive overview of comics in Wisconsin. While California is often considered the birthplace of underground comics (also known as “comix”), Wisconsin began producing independently published, subversive comics at the same time. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Wisconsin comix scene, spearheaded by Denis Kitchen’s Kitchen Sink Press, marshalled the countercultural appeal of comic art to educate, instigate, and entertain a disaffected generation.
So give this a look see if you have a chance or the inclination. I know that members of my generation will be familiar with a lot of these artists and publications…and fans of graphic novels will see some of the antecedents of their favorite genre and a few of these artists are currently working in this field today.
full disclosure: one of the artists in the exhibit is Dan E Burr…an artist who I have known and worked with in different capacities since the early 1970s…who I haven’t been able to get together with since March…sigh.
“Anyone…interested in the history of comics, politics, and popular culture should visit MOWA and absorb the power of this historic collection.” –Chris Yogerst, Comics Journal