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"Art of the Superhero" (Incredible OA exhibit at University of Oregon)

Started by Nexus,

21 posts in this topic

Nexus

Nexus

Posted
Posted

Some amazing pieces listed in this article (much from the David Mandel collection)...sounds like a trip worth taking:

 

http://qurls.com?i=48168

 

 

 

'Art of the Superhero' exhibit comes to University of Oregon

by Steve Duin, The Oregonian

Monday September 07, 2009, 7:50 PM

 

 

At the heart of Disney's $4 billion summer blockbuster is CEO Bob Iger's concession that Marvel's superheroes -- or the versions given life by Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire and Hugh Jackman -- are precisely the cultural icons that once animated myth and movie-making in Walt Disney's world.

 

Thus, it is particularly timely that the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon is set to launch an exhibition that will illustrate -- gloriously -- how those marquee characters took shape and gained such prominence.

The David Mandel CollectionGiant-Size X-Men 1, Gil Kane and Dave Cochrum

 

"Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Art of the Superhero," which opens with a preview reception on Sept. 25, will feature 175 pieces of original comic-book art by the creative minds who either first breathed life into these characters or provided them with an inspired second wind.

 

Climbing the walls of the Coeta and Donald Barker Gallery will be Steve Ditko's Spider-Man, Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four, Neal Adams' Batman, Will Eisner's Spirit, Frank Miller's Daredevil, Gene Colan's Iron Man and Mike Mignola's Hellboy.

 

Just as prominently displayed will be the passion of collectors like David Mandel, who realized that if you can't relive the wonder years, you can -- with a little luck and a lot of persistence -- recapture the images that have stalked you since childhood.

 

Mandel, an executive producer at HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," has 38 pieces in show, including each and every page of Ditko's original art from Amazing Spider-Man #26, an early (1965) showdown between the Webslinger and the Green Goblin.

 

Mandel, 39, was reading comics at age 6 -- at the children's barber shop at FAO Schwarz in Manhattan, Mr. Rudy would reward you with a comic book if you didn't cry -- fervently collecting at 9, and wading into the original-art market at 25.

The David Mandel CollectionSplash page, Amazing Spider-Man #26, Steve Ditko

 

He found the images so compelling that he wanted to move past the pedestrian color pamphlets and acquire the artist's unique pencil-and-ink drawings.

 

"I was one of the first people my age to enter the original-art market," Mandel said, and that made all the difference in the world.

 

Nostalgia collectors, he argues, chase objects from their teen-age years: "You're buying what you love and what you remember." While Mandel wasn't the only guy buying original art in 1995, he was one of the few focused on the greatest hits of the mid-'80s.

 

The major collectors, in other words, were bidding up the works of Kirby, Carl Barks, Harvey Kurtzman and Alex Schomburg. Mandel was fixated on Frank Miller's Dark Knight, John Byrne's X-Men, and George Perez's work on Justice League of America and Teen Titans.

 

"And unlike a lot of people my age," Mandel said, "I had disposable income." While at undergrad at Harvard, his work at the Harvard Lampoon attracted the interest of Al Franken and the folks at Comedy Central. After successfully mining the 1992 and Democratic political conventions for comic material, Mandel spent three years writing sketches for "Saturday Night Live" before joining the staff at "Seinfeld."

 

Those gigs paid well enough that Mandel could afford "whatever was offered to me. In my glory days of buying, not only were the prices lower, but I was renting an apartment, leasing a car, and working seven days a week on 'Seinfeld' with no girlfriend and no expenses.

 

"I saved money and bought comic art. That's all I did."

 

With singular devotion, he sought covers and pages from the comics that once enthralled him while Mr. Rudy was administering the bowl cut, consoled him while he was hospitalized with an inflamed appendix, or provided the background music of those teen-age years ("X-Men was my soap opera. I didn't watch 'The Guiding Light,' I read X-Men.").

 

"I've been really, really lucky," Mandel said, "in finding a lot of the things that meant the most to me."

The David Mandel CollectionDaredevil #181, Frank Miller

 

He bought Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum's cover of Giant-Size X-Men #1, Miller's cover of Daredevil #181, and a Kirby splash page from X-Men #8, all of which will soon hang in the Schnitzer Museum. He bought art in a simpler time when folks still showed up at Comic-Con in San Diego with treasures from the attic, a time when "a thousand dollars used to mean something."

 

And when the mean value of this artwork began to go through the roof, Mandel wrote a check for $100,000 for Ditko's cover to Amazing Spider-Man #11.

 

His comic-art collection now numbers more than 1,000 pieces. At current market prices, the value of the material on loan from Mandel at "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet" exceeds $2 million, although the collector admits to having mixed feelings about those valuations.

 

The numbers bring obvious attention to the field, Mandel notes, adding, "I would love for there to be a certain amount of legitimacy to what I'm collecting. I'm OK if there isn't, but I truly believe these are our modern-day myths."

 

On the other hand, he admits that the current prices for comic art tend to discourage new collectors from entering the ring. One of the main reasons Mandel is so enthusiastic about this exhibition of superhero art is that he wants to encourage younger comic fans to begin collecting the work of Phil Noto, Darwyn Cooke, JH Williams, Nate Powell and the other image-makers who have animated their formative years.

 

Ben Saunders, the UO English professor who organized the exhibition, shares those hopes. He was inspired to choreograph this exhibition -- which will also include copies of three of the most important comic books, Action #1, Superman #1 and Famous Funnies #1 -- because he believes the artistic and metaphorical significance of superheroes rarely receives its academic due.

The David Mandel CollectionIron Man #1, Gene Colan

 

While Saunders notes the hazards of making any comparison between 20th century comic books and what passed for popular entertainment in 16th century England, he notes that "the best superhero comics use broad strokes to convey powerful ideas, and their mythology also has a kind of unconsciously revealing quality" ... just as Shakespeare's do.

 

"Take Iron Man," Saunders said, a character every bit as compelling and charismatic (at least as played by Robert Downey Jr.) as any Disney hero of the last 50 years. Tony Stark is a dating machine and an emotional basket case, a man who commands the banquet table but is starved for intimacy.

 

"His metaphorical 'heart-wound' is then made literal to his origin story: a piece of shrapnel damages his organic fleshy heart and inspires the creation of his armor," Saunders said. "Thus the armor that gives him his power and makes him a hero also reveals the emotional truth of his character, even as it disguises his identity. The armor itself is metaphor for his psychological strategies of self-evasion and self-protection -- a flashy, gilt, and protective exterior hiding a wounded, vulnerable, ordinary man.

 

"These are not complicated metaphors of the self, but they strike me as thoroughly Shakespearean in their movement from inside to outside -- the way in which things written on the surface reveal an inferiority that is otherwise denied.

 

"And just as in Shakespeare, just because the metaphors are simple doesn't mean they aren't profound."

 

"Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Art of the Superhero" will showcase a heretofore unseen array of these simple pen-and-ink drawings, and their profound staying power, through Jan. 3.

 

 

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dem1138

dem1138

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This is an exhibit I would truly love to see. If I lived on the West Coast I think that this would be a lot more feasible. Unfortunately, living in Manhattan, this isn't something I could gather a road trip for. Kudos to everyone that goes!

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igotnogame

igotnogame

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The news story on the CAF talks about a catalog being produced in connection with this exhibit. Anyone know how to go about ordering one of those?

 

That would be interesting to find out about whether or not that is the case. I looked up the museum's web site, and found the contact information for the musuem store:

 

Precious Cargo – The Museum Store

Call (541) 346-6441 for information.

 

Tuesday 11:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Thursday through Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

Precious Cargo - The Museum Store is closed Mondays and major holidays.

 

I would think that would be the place to check.

 

Later.

-Will

 

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aardvark88

aardvark88

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The writer of that OA review is Steve Duin who is really passionate about GA comics. Here is a link to a Sept/09 3 internet page article he wrote about Heritage's alleged or upfront legal (shill) bidding on TX auctions:

 

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/09/lawsuit_claims_heritage_auctio.php

 

 

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aardvark88

aardvark88

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Comic bk OA is cheap now compared to hi-grade slabbed comics (e.g. Hero for Hire #1 Cgc $10,000.00). The slabbers were bound to gravitate towards OA with their new found riches. The Eugene, OR gallery show is the FIRST of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. That is why I drove 9 hours south to see it. Well worth the time and gas. :applause:

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theloveforart

theloveforart

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holy sh@#,

just finished reading about that lawsuit against heritage, and then started reading all the other links to lawsuits that were against Heritage, my conclusion, i will never use that auction house ever, totally corrupt.... i mean any auction house that uses a fake name to up the price is totally unethical.

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