The Alternative Press Expo

I attended the Alternative Press Expo (aka Ape) last weekend on Oct.13^th and 14^th in San Francisco.

 It’s always a jolt to the system to see so many young artists, creative projects, new directions --and occasionally old friends and colleagues.

This year I attended a lot of the quality panel talks featuring Jim Woodring, Eric Drooker, Ben Katchor, Stan Mack, Miriam Libicki,  Los Hernandez Bros. (Jaime, Gilbert Mario Hernandez) and Sergio Arragones.



Jim Woodring



A sample of Woodring's artwork



Ben Katchor



From his book The Jew of New York

Other talented folks on hand included Shannon Wheeler, Carol Lay, Josh Ellingson, Jim Blanchard, J.R. Williams and  hordes of young, remarkably talented hopefuls.



Josh Ellingson business card



New graphic novel on the Carter Family



Chris Kawagiwa



 



Brie Spiel 



Helen America



Old home week for me was running into Al Gordon, Steve Leialoha, Trina Robbins, Paul Mavrides, Lee Binswanger and even Larry Gilmour (see Pressing Matters, October 10th  post on this blog).

I was especially pleased to run into Norman Dog (known to some as Raymond Larrett) who I haven’t laid eyes on in, well, decades.  Norman Dog is a great cartoonist by my reckoning and now engaged in a publishing venture—Puzzled Squirrel.   Here is a sampling from his book

Puzzled Squirrel has also published a compilation of the work of Lee Binswanger (Congratulations to Lee !)

 -Larry

 Remember: you can always click on the images to make them larger.

Larry and Sam go to the Alternative Press Expo

Sam and I attended the Alternative Press Expo (aka Ape) last weekend.



My son Sam

Ape is a gathering of independent, Do-It-Yourself, artist entrepreneurs and publishers  with an emphasis on alternative comics, small press, book making, printmaking and even letterpress.

It’s energizing (and occasionally overwhelming) to see so much creativity in one place. Some highpoints included (in no particular order) the work of Tom Neely, Kate Beaton, Joey Sayers, Adrian Tomine, Jennifer Tong, Eric Drooker, Louie del Carmen, Octavio Rodriguez, Matt Bors, C.S.Pego, Rick Geary and Mike Dubisch.

Here’s a quick visual tour:



Josh Ellingson

One of Ellingson's prints was "exhibited" on the International Space Station

which makes him one of a very rare class of extraterrestrial artists.

Jen Tong card



I purchased this knockout silkscreen print by Tong





Remarkable Beardsleyesque artwork by C.S.Pego



More work by Pego

 C.S.Pego is from Mexico City. I picked up a copy of her Madame Mactans.
She also premiered her new book, Exila, at Ape.

Below are a couple of images from the mucho talented Tom Neely's Doppelganger.



Papercutter #16 features brillant storytelling by Joey Allison Sayers



Sam and I checked in on some of the panel talks.

Business cards from some of the artists

Hours and hours of visual stimulation gets wearing.



Too much Ape



Above artwork copyright by respective artists