Gabrielle Bell, Jeffrey Brown, Dash Shaw, and several Abstract Comics contributors including editor Andrei Molotiu are among the artists featured in a group exhibit opening in Arlington, VA this Friday, November 19, 2010. The announcement describes the exhibit thusly:

"PARTY CRASHERS mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture, and features artists who pass back and forth between the two worlds. This massive two venue show results from a crosstown collaboration between AAC Director of Exhibitions Jeffry Cudlin and Artisphere Gallery Director Cynthia Connolly. The show’s two independent halves feature different types of work: Connolly’s show presents fine artists who mimic the appearance of comic art; Cudlin’s show at AAC contains: alternative comic artists who also show their original pages and drawings in art galleries; fine and comic artists working side-by-side on a national curated project (Creative Time Comics); and fine and comic artists creating avante-garde, purely abstract sequential art without words or recognizeable imagery."

Dash Shaw previewed his piece for the show on his blog:

More information and the complete roster of artists here.

Opening December 7 at NYC's prestigious Exit Art gallery, GRAPHIC RADICALS: 30 Years of World War 3 Illustrated, curated by World War 3 Illustrated co-founders Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman along with Susan Willmarth. This exhibit includes artwork from Peter Bagge, Steve Brodner, Sue Coe, Spain Rodriguez, Joe Sacco, Art Spiegelman, and many, many others. For complete exhibit details and information on the opening reception and schedule of artists' talks, see the full press release after the jump.

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Femke Heimstra, High Priestess of European Low Brow, opens a new exhibition, "The Bone Shaped Bone," at Roq la Rue in Seattle this Friday, November 12 [along with "Super Things" by Ryan Heshka, whom you may remember from Blab Vol. 18 – Ed.]. I was able to get a preview of the show on Monday, and her new work is breathtaking. While the entire exhibit is already sold out — natch — Femke will be on hand to sign a limited number of copies of her wonderful picture book, ROCK CANDY, which includes an introduction by Roq la Rue proprietor Kirsten Anderson.

We're hoping to tempt Femke to drop by Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday afternoon for the DESTROY ALL MOVIES!!! matinee with Zack Carlson, Bryan Connelly, and Jacob Covey. See you all then.

A major exhibit by past and present faculty and alumni of the School of Visual arts, "Ink Plots: The Tradition of the Graphic Novel at SVA" is on now in the school's Visual Arts Gallery and will have an opening reception tomorrow evening 5:30-7:00 PM to be followed by a benefit cocktail party. On November 4 at 7 PM, participating artist Dash Shaw presents a Distinguished Alumnus Lecture at the SVA Theatre. More info on all events at the links.

Stephen DeStefano has posted some great photos (taken by Siobhan DeStefano) from his exhibit opening 2 weeks ago in NYC. Here are just a few; click here for more on Stephen's blog.

Crowd:

Lucky in Love writer George Chieffet:

Stephen drawing Lucky Testaduda outside on the sidewalk:

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• Review: "This is too much of an event to ignore: Fantagraphics, Seattle’s eclectic and prolific comics publisher,... is publishing its first volume of manga — comics that may be Japan’s most popular and influential art form. [...] A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is a four-decade anthology of graphic short stories by Moto Hagio, the 'founding mother' and premiere creator of shojo manga... Does Hagio’s work justify the hype? Her visual storytelling and graphic invention, by turns fluid, crisp, and stately, certainly do. ...Moto’s other later [stories] do indeed raise manga to literature." – Eric Scigliano, Seattle Met

• Review: "...[F]ew comics fans should have difficulty getting into A Drunken Dream and Other Stories... The stories in A Drunken Dream range from weird, powerful allegories... to dreamy tales of love and loss... But the best pieces here focus on memories of childhood, of playmates treated cruelly or parents and children misunderstanding each other. [...] Few stories in the entire history of the medium have been more overwhelming than 'Hanshin: Half-God,' a tale of conjoined twins — one haggard, one gorgeous — and their spiteful, symbiotic relationship. It’s a potent metaphor rendered with the intensity of an EC comic. [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Blake Bell’s Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko set the recent standard for how to put together a coffee-table book about a legendary comics artist, and Bell takes on another innovator of the medium with Fire & Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics... Because Everett didn’t have as long or as consistent a career as Ditko, Bell doesn’t subject Everett’s work to the keen analysis he brought to Strange and Stranger. But he makes up for the diminished insight with page after page of Everett’s vivid, varied work, showing how it all emanated from a man who was a lot like his most famous creation: a destructive antihero, always a little angry at the puny humans around him. [Grade] B" – The A.V. Club

• Review: "...The Complete Peanuts, Vol. 14: 1977 - 1978... shows just how much Schulz was all over the map during that time. [...] This is still a worthwhile volume of Complete Peanuts, though; it has a charming introduction by Alec Baldwin, the usual top-quality production of the whole Fantagraphics reprint library, and some fun story arcs..." – The A.V. Club

• Review: "Only a brain incubated in the warm, nourishing goo of Looney Tunes and vintage Disney cartoons could have produced Sammy the Mouse. [...] As always, Sally’s use of silent panels and dynamic perspectives guide readers’ eyes toward nightmarish horizons and grotesque situations... A grimy, metaphysical malaise drips from every line of Sally’s lush yet unwholesome artwork, especially when he’s plundering the iconography of innocence and youth in the service of disorienting discomfort. [Grade] A-" – The A.V. Club

• Review: At What Things Do, Jordan Crane writes "In the new issue of Love and Rockets (New Stories, no.3), Jaime has a story called Browntown. It just might be the best thing he’s ever done. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, it just might be the best comic I’ve ever read. Its construction is durable yet intricate, a bunch of simple parts working together flawlessly. It’s put together like a watch."

• Review: Guttersnipe's Shawn Conner on the "Counterculture Comix" exhibit at Bumbershoot last weekend, with photos by Robyn Hanson: "Curated by Larry Reid of Fantagraphics Books, it was an eye-popping display, even if you were familiar, as I was, with most of the work..."

• Commentary: At Amazon's books blog Omnivoracious, Alex Carr discovers John Stanley via The Best American Comics Criticism and remarks that the book "is a worthwhile resource: a go-to supply of top-notch comics writing..."

• Analysis: Love & Maggie continue their series of detailed, annotated rundowns of their Top 10 Issues of The Comics Journal with the second part of their examination of issue #71

• Reviewer: For The Wall Street Journal, Alexander Theroux reviews Tom McCarthy's new novel C

At the Abstract Comics blog Andrei Molotiu announces his appearance and art show at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana tomorrow evening. His lecture "My Abstract Comics" begins at 7 PM, followed by an opening reception for his "Ruins and Other Narratives" exhibit.

Jim Blanchard brings his Icon Soup art show to fancy-pants pizza joint Snoose Junction Part Dieu here in Seattle. Jim says "I'll have 18 recent paintings on their walls from September 10 through October 7 — Opening night is Friday, Sept 10 at 7 PM, and it should be a cool scene!" More info at Jim's Info Barn blog.

Holy smokes, take a look at the lineup for this art show organized by Tom Neely opening this Friday at Secret Headquarters in L.A.: from the Fantagraphics roster alone you've got Andrice Arp, Kim Deitch, Robert Goodin, Kaz, Anders Nilsen, Zak Sally, and Josh Simmons, plus a host of other all-stars from the small-press world. Amazing!

Stephen DeStefano makes the following announcement: "If you're not doing anything on Thursday, Sept. 16th and you're in the New York area, stop in at the mdh Gallery in Manhattan (233 W. 19th Street). My friend George Chieffet and I will be there to sign copies of our new graphic novel, LUCKY IN LOVE. Also, there'll artwork that I drew on the gallery wall. All the artwork will be for sale. One wall will feature pages from LUCKY. The other wall will include my comics work on LOONEY TUNES, SPONGEBOB, POPEYE THE SAILOR, DEXTER'S LAB and REN AND STIMPY." More info at Stephen's blog.