Exhibition Dates: March 31–May 20, 2023
Extended through June
Wed–Sat, 11am–6pm and by appointment
Closed Saturday 27 May for Memorial Day Weekend
A group exhibition featuring animation, drawing, painting, and sculpture by —
Meredith Allen • Greg Barsamian • Signe Baumane • David Brody • Hugo Crosthwaite • Brian Dewan • Nicole Eisenman • James Esber • Matt Freedman • George Griffin • Red Grooms • Willy Hartland • Emily Hubley • John and Faith Hubley • Darina Karpov • Lisa LaBracio • Andy London • Carolyn London • Matt Marello • William McKearn • Morgan Miller • Caroline Mouris • Frank Mouris • Michaela Müller • Gary Panter • Joyce Pensato • Pes • Anna Samo • David Scher • Guy Richards Smit • Kathy Stecko • Nate Theis • Jim Torok • Martin Wilner • William T. Wiley and more…
This exhibition is co-curated by Pierogi and Willy Hartland. It will run from March 31 through May 20, 2023 with an opening reception at Pierogi on Friday, March 31st from 6–9pm.
There will be a series of Thursday weekly screenings, live performances, and artist talks,
beginning 7:30pm (Doors open 7pm)—
Thursday 27 April: Jim Torok, Matt Marello, Brian Dewan
Thursday 4 May: Lisa LaBracio & Anna Samo, Morgan Miller, David Brody, David Scher
Thursday 11 May: Willy Hartland, Signe Baumane, Andy London, Michaela Müller
Thursday 18 May: George Griffin, Frank Mouris, Emily Hubley
“Puttin’ on the Fur,” 1981–2016
George Griffin, 7 minutes
Animated “love song to the cartoon chase, based on music by Scott Bradley in ‘Puttin’ on the Dog.'”
“Frank Film,” 1973
Frank and Caroline Mouris, 8 minutes
1973 Oscar-winning animated short film of “hypnotic experimental collage”
“Brainworm Billy,” 2018
A short film written and narrated by Max Rosenthal
Animated by Emily Hubley and Marisa Gershenhorn
“Moonbird,” 1959
A short film by John and Faith Hubley, 19 minutes
There will be a concurrent “Out of Character” exhibition on view at Mana Contemporary Jersey City beginning in April, featuring animation projections along with drawings, paintings, and sculpture by many of the same artists plus screenings of additional animators’ works. Dates and schedule to be announced. www.manacontemporary.com
Soft opening at Mana Contemporary: Wednesday, April 12. 4-7pm
Open House: Sunday, April 30. Noon–6pm
Stay tuned as works are added—
Press Release
“Out of Character” is an exhibition focusing on the development of identity through form and narrative in characterized or stylized figurative work, presented here in the form of moving animation, drawing, painting, and sculpture. It will include works by—
Meredith Allen • Greg Barsamian • Signe Baumane • David Brody • Hugo Crosthwaite • Brian Dewan • Nicole Eisenman • James Esber • Matt Freedman • George Griffin • Red Grooms • Willy Hartland • Emily Hubley • John and Faith Hubley • Darina Karpov • Lisa LaBracio • Andy London • Carolyn London • Matt Marello • William McKearn • Morgan Miller • Caroline Mouris • Frank Mouris • Michaela Müller • Gary Panter • Joyce Pensato • Pes • Anna Samo • David Scher • Guy Richards Smit • Kathy Stecko • Nate Theis • Jim Torok • Martin Wilner • William T. Wiley and more…
Early animations and humorous art works, or “cartoons,” were not taken seriously as fine art, even though institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art’s film department supported animation in a variety of ways since its inception in 1935. Historians and curators have tried to define and redefine the canon of fine art and how it’s represented in the art world. Over the relatively short history of contemporary fine art hierarchies emerged, various styles and genres were considered “real” art or less than. It was not until the advent of Pop Art in the 1960s, with artists like Lichtenstein and others who began to appropriate cartoon styles in their work, that the distinctions and hierarchies began to be dismantled. Over time things have gradually changed, with artists such as Philip Guston, Red Grooms, Keith Haring, Peter Saul, and more recently, Joyce Pensato, Nicole Eisenman, Trenton Doyle Hancock, and many many others now held in high regard.
This exhibition is co-curated by Pierogi and Willy Hartland. It will run from March 31 through May 20, 2023 at Pierogi with an opening reception on Friday, March 31st from 6–9pm. There will be a series of weekly screenings, live performances, and artist talks, details to be announced.
There will be a concurrent exhibition on view at Mana Contemporary Jersey City including animation projections, along with unique drawings, paintings, and sculpture by many of the same artists, plus screenings of work by additional animators. Details to be announced.
The animations included in both exhibitions portray a variety of subjects, styles, media, and techniques. Some are developed using stop-motion, capturing hand drawn and cutout images, some with computer software, and others calling their style “lo-tech,” flip book, and even live performance projection. While some of the works reference cartoons these are not corporate franchise Marvel or Disney-like products. They are unique and idiosyncratic inventions.
For “The Opposites Game” Lisa LaBracio and Anna Samo create a stop-motion film animation adaptation of the Brendan Constantine poem of the same name, by hand-painting directly into nine volumes of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. The animation as well as several of the original books will be on view.
Greg Barsamian’s kinetic sculptures use the techniques of early animation to bring unconscious “images to life. In a darkened room I present sequentially formed sculptures on a rapidly spinning armature. A synchronized strobe light supplies the illumination. The images exist in real time and viewers are able to share the same space with them.” In “The Runner,” presented at Pierogi, a small figure appears to run along the tips of a spinning circular saw blade.
Hugo Crosthwaite’s “Como Romeo y Julieta,” a black and white stop-motion drawing animation, portrays the story of all-consuming love, couples of all kinds being separated by borders, pulled apart by family situations, etc. and coming back together. This animation as well as his “Caravan” sculptures will be on view. “Caravan” consists of groups of five ceramic figures placed atop rough-hewn pedestals, each group personifying several ideas: an individual thinking of their family unit, either traveling with them or left behind, and their search for a better life.
Willy Hartland’s hand drawn animation “New York City Sketchbook,” is a visual poem that explores the urban experience, raw and unfiltered. Working from his sketchbooks, and through the use of a 3d software, Hartland creates a layered tapestry of people and places, where some are opaque, while others we see right through. He considers his art a hybrid of social realism and theatrical nonfiction, weaving observation based animation, found sound, and visual diary forms into one cohesive work.
Art historian Laura Marie Feigen notes, regarding “’Beyond the Cartoon’…the role of the cartoon in contemporary art is complex and hard to define. Like everything in history, the cartoon is constantly evolving, re-defining and re-inventing itself. Becoming ever greater and diverse, the cartoon in contemporary art is both a tool and a style; a concrete idea and a philosophical concept; an expression of political defiance and nostalgic symbol of childhood innocence; effectively, both a compliment and an insult.”