Comic Con Descended on New York This Weekend. Here Are Our Favorite Works of Art From the Giant Pop Culture Fest

The alternate universe art world that is New York Comic Con
touched down in the Javits Center on the far West Side last week,
bringing with it all manner of action figures, crossover
promotions, and super hero-themed apparel. Amid all the spectacle,
as always, were hundreds of artists, selling their work to a
different breed of art collector.

The range of work on display is impressive. Down on “Artist
Alley,” there’s no shortage of old school comic artists who draw
for the big name series you know and love, many of whom will hand
ink a new drawing on the spot for a hundred bucks or
so. There’s also quite a few young artists who work primarily
on the computer, creating their drawings and paintings digitally
and selling prints of the finished design.

“People want it done it right away,” said Sacramento artist and
graphic designer Nooligan, who was
exhibiting on the main floor with drawings of beloved pop culture
characters, reimagined in a unique style that blends hip hop and
graffiti with old Saturday morning cartoons. “They want
corrections, they want things moved around, so you have to do it
digitally.”

But even for artists trained in computer drawing techniques, the
allure of the pencil can still remain strong. “I went to school for
game art design so my background is more on 3-D modeling and
programming,” said Wisconsin artist Timothy Von, who was offering intricate,
fairy tale-like pencil drawings—both originals and digital
reproductions—in a dreamy, white and gold fabric-draped booth
that had caught the ire of con organizers. “I have to take some of
it down tonight,” he laughed. “It’s a bit excessive; I got yelled
at.”

Drawing remains a common sight down in Artist Alley, but it was
almost a shock to see Nen Chang at work on an
easel, painting her darkly feminine characters with a bold array of
watercolors. She too had prints for sale, but had also brought a
large-scale oil painting. “It’s nice to whip one out every now and
then remind people what they look like,” she quipped.

Also unexpected was Eli Neugeboren, a Brooklyn
artist and school teacher with a distinct lack of fan art in his
offerings. Instead, his work included delicate watercolors of a
bowl of ramen and a bagel and lox, a poignant pen and ink portrait
of the late Anthony Bordain. “I’m a little more fine art, but I do
cartooning as well,” he said. “I think there’s people who are
surprised to find this art here—but they’re happily surprised!”

Neugeboren was also showing a bold sketch of the Fearless Girl
statue facing off
against Wall Street’s Charging
Bull. “You lose control over dictating the meaning of
your art when it’s out in the public sphere,” he said, referring to
the controversy over
the way Fearless Girl, a viral marketing stunt,
recast Arturo di Modica’s
original artwork as a
bully.

Occasionally, you’ll find strong art history references, as in
the work of Missouri artist Megan Lara, who opted
out of attending art school as her illustration business took off.
“Someone told me my art looked Alphonse Mucha—and then I started
researching the Art Nouveau movement,” she admitted. Many of her
pieces feature strong female characters like Princess Leia, framed
by elaborate decorative borders.

Channeling the Golden Age of illustration was Jae, who goes by
the moniker pineapple bread, with a modern
take on the Saturday Evening Post covers
of J.C. Leyendecker,
featuring Marvel characters Iron Man and Captain American in a
romantic relationship. “[Leyendecker] was a closeted gay man,” said
the artist, explaining her inspiration.

Another Artist Alley highlight was the new hit web
comic Strange
Planet, by Nathan W. Pyle. Since his
quirky four-panel drawings poking fun at humans’ idiosyncratic
behaviors went viral in February, he’s teamed with Threadless on a
new line of merchandise. For the Con, they’ve released an exclusive
set of signed screen prints, separate from the posters available
online.

Currently, Pyle is riding the wave of the series’ success. “I
make a new comic every single day,” he said. “The book is coming
out in November, which gives me a chance to explore more of the
narrative in the universe.”

Artists were also scattered around the main convention floor,
where booths are more expensive but easier to get. “Artist Alley is
juried—you have to have more industry experience,” said Nate Jones, who was showing a series of
portraits of pop culture characters like Parks and
Recreation’s Ron Swanson that replace the faces with a
memorable quote by the character. “It’s never gone really
viral, but Bob’s Burgers’ official Instagram shared
it.”

The upper level also includes art vendors and galleries,
offering everything from vintage comic illustrations, collectible
comic books, all manner of poster art, and even officially licensed
artworks depicting beloved franchises like Star Wars and
the Marvel and DC universes.

We even spotted Thomas Kinkade Galleries of New
York and New Jersey, which recently acquired the rights to make
Star Wars art in addition to saccharine landscapes. Kinkade himself, of course, is
dead, but his studio is selling the work of artists like Blend Cota, who specializes in DC
characters rendered in bold brushstrokes, as well as anonymous
canvases sold under the Kinkade brand.

“They don’t announce the artists from the studio,” explained
gallery co-owner Sal Catalfumo. “You have Zac Kinkade, who is
Thom’s nephew, and you have Pat Kinkade, who is Thom’s brother.”
All of the works for sale are lithographs, reproductions that
can sell for up to $2,000. “We don’t have no originals here,”
Catalfumo added, pointing to the details in one canvas. “These are
actually raised. They put a brushstroke texture over it and add
highlights in oil.”

If Kinkade’s not your jam, you could also find some of the more
established greats of the field, like Bill Sienkiewicz, an Eisner-winning
comic artist and classically trained painter who has also shown
work in galleries around the world, including the National Museum
of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the Con, he was
celebrating the release of his new book, Bill Sienkiewicz:
Revolution, in which artnet News’s own national art critic
Ben Davis examines the artist’s work as fine art, not pop
culture.

“There should be a little bit more of than,”
said Sienkiewicz.

Other artists at the Javits Center, like Nooligan, agreed. “A
lot of us are just as talented [as fine artists], but we decided to
do things that are more fun,” he said.

See more photos from New York Comic Con below.

The post Comic Con Descended on New York This Weekend. Here
Are Our Favorite Works of Art From the Giant Pop Culture Fest
appeared first on artnet News.