The Nation, founded by abolitionists in 1865, continues to chronicle the breadth and depth of American political and cultural life since the telegraph brought news to Americans at lightning speed. With the rise of social media, new steps have been taken to continue a spirited discourse on issues of importance to the progressive community. Recently launched, the OppArt blog, curated by Andrea Arroyo, … Read the full Story >>
I may be suffering from PDN (Pre-Departure Nostalgia) as we get closer to our stateside return from Mexico this July. Whatever the diagnosis, all my senses seem to be strangely heightened. My eyes constantly watch for new subjects, and drawing in my sketchbook has become a daily obsession. My ears are sharply attuned to the daily parade of sounds, from the ravens that wake … Read the full Story >>
Four years ago on Wednesday, March 11th I was sitting in Oaxaca, Mexico watching the State of The Union address, in which President Trump UN-reassured us about dealing with an exploding global pandemic. Though the world had suddenly tilted off its axis, Oaxaca showed no sign of this calamity. That would come months later. Visiting Oaxaca has always felt like stepping into the past, with … Read the full Story >>
One of the prominent features of the political struggles that have taken place here in Oaxaca, Mexico has been street art. Sometimes it takes the form of beautifully designed posters announcing an event; sometimes artists combine bold stenciled graphics with political slogans like The revolution will not be televised; and sometimes they're more like an open canvas that becomes an expanding dialogue between … Read the full Story >>
For people who love alternative comics and cartoons, this weekend offers the pop rocks of eye candy: MoCCA Art Festival 2007 is on at the Puck Building. The fair is sponsored by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, a not-for-profit established to help get children interested in reading, to bring greater visibility to the graphic novel as a literary form, and in general, … Read the full Story >>
Award-winning graphic novelist Peter Kuper combines his appreciation of classic architecture with a lifelong fascination with insects in the new exhibition INterSECTS: Where Arthropods and Homo Sapiens Meet, opening January 14, 2022 in the third-floor Stokes Gallery of The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Kuper, a longtime DART subscriber and collaborator, met me by … Read the full Story >>
The first question I'm usually asked these days is, "What made you decide to live in Oaxaca, Mexico?" This brings to mind some dialogue from the movie Casablanca: Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains): "What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?" Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart): "My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters." Captain Renault: "The waters? What waters? We're in the desert!" … Read the full Story >>
With a new president only days away from assuming power, Oaxaca, Mexico, where I spent two years living between 2006 and 2008, has been on my mind. Given the perspective the president-elect has put forward that Mexicans are mostly rapist and murders, it seemed like a good time to counter that fearful black and white snapshot with a palette of color. Oaxaca isn’t only … Read the full Story >>
New York cartoonist Peter Kuper has written and drawn Spy vs Spy for Mad magazine since 1997, and is a co-founder and editor of World War 3 Illustrated. His 25 books in the graphic novel form include an adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis; an autobiography; and The System. His latest, Ruins (Self Made Hero 2015), charts the migration of a creative couple from New York, to Mexico. … Read the full Story >>
According to experts there are about 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that is, 10 quintillion) insects in the world. I estimate that roughly half of them are in our backyard here in Oaxaca, Mexico. My fascination with entomology, which dates back to my first reading of Sam and the Firefly, at the age of four, has been reawakened since we began our sojourn in Mexico over a year … Read the full Story >>
Editor’s note: Alternative comics artist and illustrator Peter Kuper, a longtime contributor to DART, emailed me last week after cutting short his visit to Oaxaca, Mexico. Following is his report from the time he recently spent there.—PR Once again my wife Betty and I returned to Oaxaca for an extended stay and this visit we rented a place right in the center … Read the full Story >>
Talks / Discussions / Screenings / and Beyond Tuesday, August 16 Takuro Hinokio | Live Painting performance/with Jasmine Lee on Cello, 7-10 pm. Ouchi Gallery, 170 Tillary Streeet, Brooklyn, NY Info Wednesday, August 17 Screening: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972), 7pm/sundown. Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, NY Info Thursday, August 18 Sarah Singh + Rey Paris ? … Read the full Story >>
If you feel the need for an honest reassessment of current affairs, head for Hell's Kitchen. At Exit Art, on 10th Avenue at 36th Street, NYC, artists are creating works on site for The Labyrinth Wall: From Mythology to Reality. Papo Colo, curator and co-founder, frames the impulse for the exhibition in terms of today's geo-political climate. "Chance is the payback...for arrogance. Glory … Read the full Story >>
When Peter Kuper, the cartoonist widely known for his Spy Vs. Spy strip in MAD magazine, told me that he was moving his family to Oaxaca City, Mexico three years ago, I asked if he would be interested in posting stories for DART. Without hesitation, he agreed, and his first article appeared on November 10, 2006. The last story, Oaxaca Journal V. 14, … Read the full Story >>
The annual New York destination for alternative sequential art, the MoCCA Festival, arrives early this year - it's on this weekend at the 69th Regiment Armory. Each year artists and publishers look forward to the event as if it were a love fest, and this one's no exception. Here's the talk from the street: Steven Guarnaccia, Illustration Program Chair at Parsons the New School … Read the full Story >>
Before the idea of becoming an artist was even a scribble in my mind, I was determined to become an entomologist, or "bugger", as I declared to a friend of my parents, who worked at the Museum of Natural History. The study of insects, especially butterflies, was my first love. Almost as soon as I became enthralled, I heard about a seemingly mythical place … Read the full Story >>
For narrative art-loving New Yorkers who groove on sequential art and visual antics, your chance for a live dose of BLAB! is near. Tomorrow night, a retrospective culled from the periodic anthology's 24 years in print opens at Society of Illustrators. Left: Cover illustration for Volume 9 copyright 1997 Gary Baseman; right: cover illustration for Volume 12 copyright The Clayton Brothers; courtesy Monte … Read the full Story >>
It’s a beautiful mid November afternoon and I’m sitting at an outdoor café in the Zocalo. Scanning the bustling scene I see a woman in a dazzlingly colorful dress, carrying a basket of fruit on her head. Near a baroque gazebo, an old man is selling hand- carved animal figures next to a group of musicians playing some perfect Latin rhythm. The sun … Read the full Story >>
In a blink, two years has past since our departure from Oaxaca. If I went by the reports about Mexico in the US press we would have been too terrified to ever return. Between the drug war murders and the swine flu pandemic (Oaxaca State was said to have the first reported death from H1N1) one would have the impression the entire country was … Read the full Story >>
Arriving at the Lexington Avenue Armory this weekend is the 10th edition of the MoCCA Fest—presented by New York City’s own Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art. And this year the prestigious Klein Award (named for MoCCA founder Lawrence Klein) will go to Gary Panter at a presentation on Saturday afternoon. For anyone in the dark about what could be New York’s loudest and most vibrant art show … Read the full Story >>
