Positivilly Marvillainous

Expanding on tradition doesn’t necessarily demand the push towards perfection or a high polish. Rather, it can entail building on established conventions in a particular artist’s unique voice. Today, contemporary artists—knowingly or unknowingly—reference George Herriman’s historically overlooked, unpretentious and universally accessible fantasy, Krazy Kat a comic strip that ran in American newspapers from 1913 until 1944. The artists in Positivilly Marvillainous embrace tensions, arising from Herriman’s formal qualities in character portrayal, including those between line and shade, humor and drama, human and animal, collage and décollage, marvelous and villainous. A growing roster includes confirmed artists: Bäst, Ellen Berkenblit, Mike Bidlo, Rosson Crow, Ted Gahl, George Herriman, Chris Johanson, Ray Johnson, Sean Landers, Austin Lee, Dan McCarthy, Joyce Pensato, Dave Sayre, Kenny Scharf, David Shrigley and Devin Troy Strother.