August 30, 2008, New York, NY - Forum Gallery presents American Presidents & Selected Paintings: 1966 - 2008, including nearly 50 paintings and drawings by David Levine, America's acclaimed observer of humanity and politics. For over four decades Levine has entertained readers of The New York Review of Books with his often-satirical portraiture of public figures. The current exhibition brings together these caricatures and Levine's intimate painted portraits of the diverse characters that populate New York City.

The exhibition features a selection of more than 40 political figures from the caricatures the artist has created since he began working for The New York Review of Books in 1963. With the November 2008 presidential election upon us, Levine's sketches of the Kennedys, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, the Clintons and their advisors and appointees are a wry and incisive reminder of how history informs and embellishes political life.

The exhibition celebrates the release of David Levine's new book, American Presidents, 128 pages of Levine's caricatures and anecdotes chronicling five administrations in some of their most notable and shameful moments. As Bill Moyers and Michael Winship write in their foreword to the volume:

"For more than four decades, David Levine has pierced the public image of America's presidents and politicians with a fistful of sharpened pen nibs and gallons of India ink carefully tinctured with carbolic. 'Politicians should be jumped on as often as possible,' he once told Time Magazine. Levine pounced where many feared to tread."

David Levine's caricatures and paintings are featured in public and private collections across the country including, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; The National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; and The Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

A November 2008 Vanity Fair article will chronicle David Levine's art and life, and Forum Gallery is producing a video interview with the artist to discuss his upcoming exhibition, his new book, and his recent retirement from 40 years at The New York Review of Books.

The 128-page Fantagraphics book, American Presidents, with an introduction by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship and commentary by the artist, accompanies the exhibition and is available for $20 plus $2. S&H. An opening reception will take place on Thursday October 2, 2008 at Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue at 57th Street, Fifth Floor. The exhibition continues through Saturday November 8, 2008. For more information, images or B-roll please contact Rachel Feinberg at Forum Gallery.

LOCATION: 745 5th Avenue at 57th Street, 5th Floor

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday - Saturday

TELEPHONE: 212-355-4545

FAX: 212-355-4547

View the exhibition HERE

View VIDEO of this exhibition:

© David Levine , courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York, NY

Greg Zura, sales manager for a decade here at Fantagraphics, you forgot some of your stuff when you quit to pursue writing*. We found this Tijuana Bible portrait of Osama Bin Luba behind your desk.

*Sort of.

Subterranean Books has some great pics up from Tim Lane's art show and book release party last Friday night.  Here's one of the author with a life-size cut out that I want for my living room:

I have a feeling I've already mentioned this but... The Popeye cartoons have been getting a reissue lately and we put together this little "Plunder Island" full-color comic book as a teaser to next year's Volume Four of our Complete Popeye comic strip. It's available only in the DVD package.

Our pal Jenn Chan sent us these awesome photos of a weekend baking jag inspired by Krazy Kat (and perhaps even Chris Ware's design). Her husband was "feeling really bummed about the Mets so I made these to cheer him up." Lucky man. Well, aside from those Mets, anyway. At least he's not a Mariners fan. Back to the Kupkakes. Mmmmmm:

Left: Rock Bottom, Michael Shilling (2009)

Right: Misery Loves Comedy, Ivan Brunetti (2007)

I don't mean to necessarily suggest the above is a swipe -- I think it could be entirely coincidental. But I was just struck by not only the design similarities (down to the sans serif fonts), but the similarly nihilistic titles the designs serve. Did the tone of each title drive the design to similar, bleak places independent of the other, or did the designer of Rock Bottom look to Misery for similarly bleak inspiration? And what was Ivan riffing on when he designed his book? I have no answers, I just saw the cover to Rock Bottom at LitMob and immediately asked myself these questions. There's probably some famous art manifesto from the 1930s that has this same design that is obvious to everyone but me. 

SHOCK AND AWE AT GEORGETOWN SECOND SATURDAY ART ATTACK ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

Adventurous arts enthusiasts are again invited to invade Georgetown on Saturday, October 11 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM for the Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack. This lively celebration of creative diversity features provocative programming in visual, performing, and applied arts at over 30 locations throughout the historic Georgetown industrial arts district.

Among the many highlights: Georgetown artist Tina Randolph's cement and encaustic paintings on steel panels at Revival Home & Garden; a Day of the Dead group show, "Día de los Muertos," including Chris Lefebvre, Amaranta Ibarra, Tamlin Marx and others at Georgetown Tile Works; "Just Kids," a charming exhibition of children's portraits by Georgetown photographer Rebecca Bolte at Bolte Creative; "Transect," new and selected works by Michael McDevitt at Georgetown Art Center; new works by Marty Gordon at the Mix; "Cosmocopia," an exhibition by cartoonist and fine artist Jim Woodring with a reading by acclaimed science fiction author Paul DiFilippo at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery; Georgetown's Dubcar performing a sensuous blend of rock ‘n' roll, old school reggae, funk and soul at 9 Lb. Hammer; a festive CD release party for "Sharing My Heart" by Eileen Day at Helmet Head Salon; handmade glass by local artisans at Totally Blown Glass; exquisite handcrafted gifts at Little q Designs and George boutiques; delicious dining and drinking at Jules Maes Saloon, Georgetown Liquor Company, Calamity Jane's, Smarty Pants, Stellar Pizza & Ale, Hanger Café, All City Coffee, and Squid and Ink; amazing antiques at Great Stuff, 24 Karat, the Stables, and Fruit Cocktail Collectibles; open salons at several unique art studios.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack on October 11 follows the ART ON AIRPORT 2008 studio tour, a multi-building open studios event. Visit dozens of our artist neighbors to the north at Sunny Arms Artists' Cooperative studios, 707 S. Snoqualmie St., The Old Rainier Brewery Complex studios, 3200 Airport Way S., and 4810 Airport Way S. studios from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

The Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack is a production of the Georgetown Merchants' Association. A map locating Art Attack participants can be found at: www.georgetownartattack.com. For more information please contact GMA chair Kathy Nyland or Art Attack coordinator Larry Reid.

Krazy and Ignatz: The Complete Sunday Strips 1925-1934
By George Herriman

We said we would never reprint it... but popular demand overwhelmed our will! Our second limited-edition printing of this deluxe hardcover (limited to 600 copies this time) compiles the first five Krazy & Ignatz softcover collections books we published, comprehensively collecting the years 1925 through 1934, under hard covers. It's not a slipcase, it's a single hardcover book. The covers to the original five softcover books are NOT included, but literally everything else is. And yes, we are similarly collecting the years 1935-1944 and, eventually, 1916-1924, as those softcover volumes are completed. (Since we get asked this once in a while — even though it's covered in the first one we did, at the end of the book, ahem — YES, we will go back and reprint the years prior to 1925, after we publish everything through 1944, when the strip ended.) Because of the limited nature of this item, we are not distributing this through traditional bookstores or Diamond distribution. A beautiful, must-have brick of a book for the Ignatz in you (though lobbing it at any unrequited love interests WILL cause serious physical harm — be warned).

600-page black & white 9" x 12" hardcover • $75.00
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Today we're bringing you an advance look at Bill Schelly's upcoming biography of all-time comics great Joe Kubert, Man of Rock (coming next month). Click here if the slideshow doesn't appear above.

Flog!'s North Carolina Bureau Chief Rob Clough attended the opening of the Dash Shaw show at Duke this past Friday night and was kind enough to provide us with this exclusive report: 

Dash Shaw's show BOTTOMLESS at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University debuted on Thursday, September 25th. The well-attended opening was a multi-media affair that was as much about process as it was about a final product. The way that curator Diego Cortez designed the show gave a unique glimpse into Shaw's method. By juxtaposing Shaw's original pencils against his color sheets on the walls of the exhibit, the viewer could see the way Shaw composes color for his pages is unusual. On display were pencils and color pages from his webcomic BodyWorld and MOME short stories "Train" and the upcoming "Satellite CMYK". That latter story may well be his best effort yet.

There were also some other unusual entries, like a drawing Shaw made of himself and Barack Obama as surfers.

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