Gary Panter
Fredericks & Freiser is pleased to announce General Atmosphere: Early Jimbo Drawings and Recent Work an exhibition by Gary Panter. Widely recognized as one of the major figures working at the intersection of art and graphics, Panter has held a staunch presence in our culture since the late 1970s. His polygot talent includes drawing, painting, writing, music, art direction for the beloved Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and, as contributor to the legendary Slash and Raw magazines, a pioneering force in the Punk graphic aesthetic. His work is radical and wry, occupying a space between formal ingenuity and draftsmanship, biting satire and boundless empathy.
For his fifth exhibition with the Gallery, the artist presents a series of new drawings alongside a selection of works from the 1970s to the 90s mostly based on his iconic character Jimbo. Panter’s new work consists of colorful, action-packed drawings made with ink and watercolor. These pieces chronicle the multiple iterations and various adventures of iconic cartoon characters, as well as his signature cast of punk, hillbilly heroes and villians (cowboys, robots, cavemen, dinosaurs, etc). Typical of Gary Panter, something very strange is going on in his new work. Not only is the melding of linear cartooning and washy abstraction historically pointed and wittily absurd, but it embodies the uncanny disconnect between our stories and ourselves.
The early drawings feature his iconic “Punk-everyman” character, Jimbo, who the artist created in 1974 as an alter-ego and a guide through the ethical, cultural, and metaphysical ideas of his zines and graphic novels. Panter’s earlier work is pure Noir-meets-Apocalypse. The work is marked by the jagged linearity that is at the heart of his broad influence. As Matt Groening wrote in his essay for “Masters of American Comics” (Hammer, MoCA), “and because he’s so sweet, I can admit here that yes, I’ve copped a thing or two from Gary. Check out Jimbo’s spiky hairline and then take a look at Bart Simpson’s picket-fence-topped noggin. Eerie, isn’t it?” Or as artist Mike Kelley wrote in the introduction to Panter’s titular monograph, “I find it hard to believe that Mr. Basqiuat’s word clusters and broken-line approach did not borrow heavily from the genius of Gary Panter. Enough Said.”