On NPR's Morning Edition today, Laura Sydell reports on The Serious Comic Art of Daniel Clowes...
Comics used to be seen as cheap throwaway entertainment for children and teenagers. But over the last few decades, comics have grown up; they're even released in longer formats, on nice paper with hard covers, as graphic novels.
Daniel Clowes is one of the artists cited for turning the form into serious art — in fact, the art has gotten so serious that his work is now in a museum. Clowes is one of the best-known comic artists working today, with two of his books made into Hollywood films: the Academy Award-nominated Ghost World and Art School Confidential.
Clowes never aimed to be the kind of artist museums collect. But now, the walls of the Oakland Museum of California are covered with his drawings. It's "quite embarrassing," he laughs. Full story
That's right, the Oakland resident who brought you such graphic novel classics as Ghost World, Art School Confidential, and the hyper bizarre but strangely compelling Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron is the subject of an exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California, running through August 12. Reviewer Justin Gilmore writes in Oakland Local today that "walking through the exhibition’s Clowes-adorned corridors, dark undertones of cynicism assorted with modern forms of alienation create a quixotic mixture that’s sure to be felt by those who are subject to any level of generational dejection."
Sounds right up the entire human race's alley!
Laura Sydell was kind enough to pass along some material of local relevance that didn't make it into her final piece. Here's a conversation about Oakland she had with Clowes...