Articles about Peoria Contemporary Art Center Installation

 

(Click on images to see enlarged versions)

Jetzt auf deutsch: Contemporary Art Center Exhibition: "Meanwhile...." Mark Staff Brandl

Contemporary Art Center Press Release:
“Meanwhile….”  11.Juli - 27. August 2011

Mark Staff Brandl arbeitet zusammen mit Gary Scoles und Thomas Emil Homerin

Das Trio entwickelt und zeichnet vor Ort eine raumübergreifende Comic-Installation. Die Besucher sind eingeladen diesem Prozess beizuwohnen und haben die Möglichkeit, interaktiv mitzuwirken. Die laufende Arbeit von Brandl, Scoles und Homerin wird mittels Video und Fotos laufend dokumentiert. Die Dokumentation ist Bestandteil der Ausstellung.

Vernissage: Samstag 16 Juli 2011, 18.30 bis 210.30

Die Kunsthalle in Peoria, Illinois, USA, bekannt als „The Contemporary Art Center“, lud Mark Staff Brandl letztes Jahr ein, eine seiner "Panels" Installation zu machen. Der Künstler, geboren in Illionois aber wohnhaft in der Schweiz, bemerkte bald, dass dies eine perfekte Möglichkeit wäre, sich einen seit langem gehegten Wunsch zu erfüllen. Er wollte seine beiden Jugendfreunde, Gary Scoles aus Peoria und Emil Homerin aus Rochester New York, als kreatives Team wiedervereinigen, und gemeinsam eine Installation realisieren. Vom 11. Juni bis 16. Juni wird dieser Wunsch wahr. Das Trio realisiert vor Ort in der Peoria Kunsthalle eine "live" Installation.

Brandl, Scoles und Homerin lernten einander 1965 mit 10 Jahren in der fünften Primarschulklasse in Pekin, Illinois kennen. Sie wurden eng befreundet und verbrachten praktisch jeden Samstag während ihrer Zeit im Gymnasium zusammen. Sie waren stets damit beschäftigt, ihre eigenen Superheldencomics zu schreiben und zu zeichnen. Mark und Gary waren die Künstler und Letterer, Emil der Autor und Editor. Obwohl sie sich später in ganz verschiedene Richtungen entwickelt haben, sind sie sind fest befreundet geblieben. Brandl ist bildender Künstler und Kunsthistoriker in der Schweiz, wo er vor kurzem zum Doktor an der Universität Zürich promovierte; Scoles ist pensioniert und arbeitet als Comiczeichner in Peoria; Homerin ist Professor für komparative Religionswissenschaft und Poesie an der Rochester University in New York.

Die geplante Installation wird auf der Basis von Kritzeleien aufgebaut. Brandl und Scoles haben über das letzte Jahr hinweg regelmässig spontane Skizzen in Comics-Stil auf alles Mögliche gezeichnet. Sie sammelten diese Bilder auf alten Couverts und Zetteln, die eher fürs Altpapier bestimmt wären. Sie werden diese jedoch auf die Wände montieren und neue grosse Bilder, Sprechblasen und Zeichnungen hinzufügen. Dies alles unter der auktorialen und redaktionelle Beratung von Homerin, der versuchen wird, ein Narrativ daraus zu schaffen. Die Besucher und Besucherinnen sind eingeladen die „Installation-in-Progress“ zu besichtigen und mit dem Trio ins Gespräch zu kommen. Am Ende der Woche wird die "Panels" Comics-Installation den ganzen Raum umfassen. Und die Aktivitäten werden auf Video, Fotos und in Sektionen von "Meta-Comics" dokumentiert sein.

Mark Staff Brandl kam 1955 in der Nähe von Chicago zur Welt und hat lange Zeit dort gelebt. Seit 1988 ist er in der Schweiz ansässig; wohnt seit 10 Jahren in Trogen AR. Er ist Dozent in Kunstgeschichte und Malerei an der Kunstschule Liechtenstein und der Höheren Fachschule für Bildende Kunst und visuelle Kommunikation in St.Gallen. Seine Ausbildung in Kunst, Kunstgeschichte und Theorie machte er an der University of Illinois, der Illinois State University, der Columbia Pac University und promovierte am 20. Mai 2011 mit magna cum laude an der Universität Zürich als Doktor in Kunstgeschichte. Brandl ist international seit 1980 als Künstler tätig, hat verschiedene Auszeichnungen erhalten und ist mit zahlreichen Publikationen und Ausstellungen an die Öffentlichkeit getreten. Seine künstlerischen Arbeiten wurden unter anderem von Galerien und Museen in der Schweiz, Deutschland, Italien, Ägypten, der Karibik sowie in Städten wie Paris, Moskau, Chicago, Los Angeles, London oder New York gezeigt. Einige seiner Werke wurden vom Museum of Modern Art in New York, dem Whitney Museum in New York, dem Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, dem Victoria und Albert Museum in London, dem Thurgauer Kunstmuseum, dem Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, dem International Museum of Cartoon Art, der Graphischen Sammlung der ETH Zürich und anderen aufgenommen.

Vernissage  Samstag 16. Juli 18.30 bis 20.30

Für weitere Auskünfte und Bilder wenden Sie bitte an:

Mark Staff Brandl: www.markstaffbrandl.com/

William Butler, Executive Director,
Contemporary Art Center Peoria
+1 309 674-6822

artcentr@mtco.com

www.peoriacac.org/

Contemporary Art Center Exhibition: "Meanwhile...." Mark Staff Brandl

"Meanwhile...." July 11-August 27 Gallery 3R Mark Staff Brandl with Gary Scoles and Thomas Emil Homerin

The trio creates a comic book installation on site from scratch, eventually enveloping the entire room. Visitors are invited to watch the process and interact with the creators. Their activities are documented in video and photos, also becoming part of the completed exhibition.

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 16, 6:30-8:30 pm

When Mark Staff Brandl of Switzerland was invited to exhibit at the Contemporary Art Center, he realized this would be an opportunity to fulfill a long-held desire to reunite his friends Gary Scoles of Pekin and Emil Homerin of Rochester, New York into an active creative team in order to realize one of his Panels Painting-Installations, utilizing as a springboard the steady stream of comic-related ephemeral sketches and doodles he and Scoles consistently produce. Starting on July 11, the team will convene in Gallery 3R to create the work on site.

The three met in 1965, at the age of 10, in fifth grade at Douglas Primary School in Pekin, Illinois. They became fast friends, spending almost every Saturday and Saturday night together for years, through high school, creating original superhero comic books. Mark and Gary were the artists and letterers, Emil the author and editor. All created their own characters, yet each helped to contribute to and develop the others' ideas. Emil bore the brunt of making narrative sense of them all. Although their lives took them in various directions after high school, the three have remained in contact, sending comics, art and related materials to one another and collaborating on projects.

The installation will commence with a batch of collected comic-art-oriented doodles on various scraps and sizes of paper that Brandl and Scoles will have done and collected over the year prior to the exhibition. These have no planned continuity nor are even consciously link-ed or guided in any way. They will be laid out as well as mounted on the walls and serve as the basis for the event and installation. Then Homerin will concoct a narrative from these, telling the artists what to add, complete, extend, or change. Visitors will be invited to come to the Art Center, watch the process and interact with the creators. After a week, an installation-comic will envelop the whole room. The activities will be documented in a video, photos, perhaps even sections of "meta-comic" where sequences about the creation of the work will become part of the completed exhibition.

The opening reception on Saturday, July 16, 6:30-8:30 pm will also honor Minnesota artist Sally J. Bright in the Preston Jackson Gallery. Food & drink will be provided. Music provided by Paul Adams. Admission is free but a donation is requested.

This exhibit is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Hi-res photos are available.

Mark Staff Brandl: www.markstaffbrandl.com/

William Butler, Executive Director Contemporary Art Center of Peoria 309-674-6822 artcentr@mtco.com www.peoriacac.org

Brandl Dissertation Chapter Three: Excursus

This is Chapter Three of my PhD dissertation (thus the fourth on-line following the Prelude and Chapters One and Two which I already posted). This chapter is in comic form and in it I begin to apply my theory to my own work as well as that of others.

The Chapters are permanently archived on my website here, but I am posting a notification on Sharkforum as I finish them and they are critiqued and approved. (I am writing under the direction of Prof. Philip Urspung at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. My second reader is Prof. Andreas Langlotz at the University of Basel, Switzerland.) This is also to offer a location where any reader who wants to can post comments, most of which will go into my final dissertation project in some fashion. I would love your comments, criticism, tangential thoughts and more!

Link to chapter here (in pdf).


Please be aware that by commenting here, you are giving me permission to use your words, with proper citation including your name, in some fashion in my final book and exhibition.

All elements are (c) and TM 2010 by Mark Staff Brandl.

Short Video Interview with Brandl at CAA on Columbia College Blog

Barabra Trinh says, "While I’m sitting waiting for a session to begin, my curiosity was sparked when a man in front of me was enthusiastically speaking about comics and his art on the T-shirt he was currently wearing. Instead of handing someone an ordinary business card, he hands them a button with his contact info on the back. That is because Mark Staff Brandl (http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/) is no ordinary artist. He is interested in comic/ sequential art, painting, and art history. His installations are described as ‘walk in comic books’, a mixture of installation and comic books that are 12 ft tall. In the video, Mark tells us about himself and his experience at CAA."

Barbara Trinh, BA Candidate from the Film & Video Dept

Brandl: Post-Hysterical: Timeline, Comics and a Plurogenic View of Art History

A 55 minute speech, with images, by artist and art historian Mark Staff Brandl. Originally presented at the CAA (College Art Association, art historians organization) annual conference, as well as at the Kunstschule Lichtenstein, in 2010. It concerns description and criticism of the standard conceptions and models of fine art history and the history of comics, while offering a new one model for conceiving of and teaching these histories.

CUNY James Gallery's Silent Pictures Exhibitions with Brandl Painting Installation

Silent Pictures, running from September 1 through October 11 in the James Gallery in NYC focuses on aspects of comic book structure that do not depend on words to advance an image sequence. The exhibition is inspired by artist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Art Spiegelman's personal collection of wordless comics and graphic novels -- mostly black and white rare artist books from the 1930s. The show will feature a selection of these books, as well as more recent "abstract comics," and a related film program -- all of which investigate essential qualities and aesthetics of this hugely popular medium.

The abstract comics, compiled by art historian and artist Andrei Molotiu for a just released anthology, Abstract Comics Fantagraphics Books, 2009), call attention to the formal mechanisms that underlie all comics. The art gathered by Molotiu emphasizes the dynamic graphics that lead the eye and mind from panel to panel, suggesting that these structural elements are fundamental to the emotional register of the medium. This section of the exhibition features an old-fashioned wire magazine stand ("spinner rack"), which hosts a collection of paintings by Mark Staff Brandl called A History of Composition in Abstract Comic Covers. Done in oil, acrylic and collage on canvas panels, the 30 pieces in this series unite comics, pop art and Pollock-related abstraction with his actual interpretation of the history of composition in painting from Prehistoric times until now.

The James Gallery is located off the lobby of the Graduate Center at 365 Fifth Avenue (between 34th & 35th Streets). Hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 12-8 pm, and 12-6 pm on Saturdays & Sundays. Admission is free; for more information call 212-817-7138 or visit http://www.gc.cuny.edu/events/art_gallery.htm An opening reception for Silent Pictures will be held on Thursday, September 10, 6-8 pm.

A few details follow.

Steve Hamann: The Problem, A Feeding Frenzy Comic

Click on image to enlarge.

http://www.wesleykimlerstudio.com/

http://www.markstaffbrandl.com/newest.html

http://www.stevehamannart.com/

The podcast being discussed is here.

Steve Hamann: (Po)Modern Shark: A Feeding Frenzy Comic

Click on image to see full, enlarged version.

A comic --- oops, a piece of sequential art --- in which the artist Steve Hamann braves the Sharkpit to finally meet Mark Staff Brandl, discuss with Wesley Kimler, see art by both, and comment on it all!

Gene Colan wins Cartoon Art Museum's Sparky Award

San Francisco, CA: The Cartoon Art Museum is proud to announce that Gene Colan is the recipient of the 2008 Sparky Award, which was presented to him by CAM founder Malcolm Whyte during the museum's "Salute to Gene Colan" on Thursday, December 4, 2008.

The Sparky Award is named in honor of Charles "Sparky" Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. Schulz was nicknamed "Sparky" after the horse Sparkplug featured in the comic strip Barney Google. The Cartoon Art Museum would not exist without benefactors like Sparky Schulz and his wife, Jeannie. The Sparky Award is presented on behalf of the Cartoon Art Museum and the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Library.

The award celebrates the significant contributions of cartoon artists who embody the talent, innovation and humanity of Charles M. Schulz. Past recipients include Schulz himself, Sergio Aragones, Gus Arriola, Carl Barks, Will Eisner, Creig Flessel, Phil Frank, Lou Grant, Chuck Jones, Ward Kimball, Gary Larson, John Lasseter, Stan Lee, Bill Melendez, Dale Messick, John Severin and Morrie Turner.



Live testimonials were given by several notable collaborators of Colan's, including writer Steve Englehart, comic book inkers Steve Leialoha and Joe Rubinstein, and Daniel Cooney, a former pupil of Colan's, who is now a professional comic book artist and a professor at the Academy of Art University. Written testimonials were provided by Mike Richardson and Diana Schutz of Dark Horse Comics, Paul Levitz of DC Comics, and Dean Mullaney of Eclipse Comics, and a video tribute was provided by Colan's longtime friend and collaborator Stan Lee. Mr. Colan was interviewed onstage by noted author Glen David Gold, the lead curator on the Cartoon Art Museum's current tribute exhibition, Colan: Visions of a Man without Fear, which is on display at the Cartoon Art Museum through March 15, 2009.

For more information about Gene Colan, please visit his website, http://www.genecolan.com
General information about the exhibition is available at the museum's website, http://www.cartoonart.org