Curated by
Michael Hill of UTS, the exhibition will coincide with
ComicFest 2001.
SAVAGE PENCILS
is an exhibition of Australian comic cover art
coming to the Silicon Pulp Gallery in Sydney. Silicon Pulp
has been flying the flag for local animators and the notion of animation
as Fine Art for the past two years, and will now give its support to comics,
the best examples of which should also be treated as Fine Art. Already in its high profile
Atomic Sushi exhibition,
Silicon Pulp Gallery has
made the connection between manga and anime which is endemic in Japanese
industry and visual culture.
The title of the exhibition is taken from the alias used by the English comics creator
of the early 1980s, Edwin Pouncey, whose 'punk' style of graphics proved inspirational
to many alternative cartoonists. His work is not included in this show, as this is an
exhibition of Australian Comic Art, however his raw, spontaneous, DIY style and irreverent
attitude is evident in a lot of the artwork presented.
SAVAGE PENCILS will profile the work
of Australian creators working in
the field of comics and graphic art. The alternative exponents of this genre
will receive attention as well as mainstream artists, and
historical and contextual links will be made to establish the setting in
which the comics scene has developed here.
Whilst comics are printed in hundreds and thousands, reproduced from the original artwork,
it is worth remembering that there is only one piece of original artwork per page and per
cover, unless of course the work has been produced digitally. For investors in comic art
it stands to reason that original artwork can be expected to appreciate in value to a greater
extent than investing in actual copies of comics.
The opening of the exhibition will coincide with
ComicFest 2001, the
largest comics convention in Australia, which will be staged at
Fox Studios in Sydney. Like Silicon Pulp, ComicFest covers both comics
and animation (the voice actors from Dragon Ball Z will be appearing for
example), and the whole range of popular visual media. About 40 artists will be
represented in the exhibition, from every state in Australia (except NT), mostly from
cities as this 'small press' publishing tends to be an urban rather than rural activity.
Many of the local artists appearing at ComicFest will also be
exhibiting in SAVAGE PENCILS.
ABSTRUSE AHN ASHWORTH BACIC BLANDEN BROWN BUTCHER + WOOD CALEO DAKANAVAR DANKO EMDIN
FUIJKSCHOT GRABER HUTCHINGS JOHNSON MAJOR MCKEOWN MIKUL MRONGOVIUS MURPHY NAYLOR
NOLD ORD PAULOS PHOSPHORESCENT Q-RAY SCHELL SHAGS SLATER SMITH TANAMAS TARJAVAARA
TAYLOR TESORIERO TOLLEY VELLA WHITFIELD WILSON
See also :
ComicsAustralia.com
The Comics Journal
OZcomics.com
anigal@siliconpulp.com.au