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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER PRESENTS

COMIC RELEASE

February 17, 2003 (New Orleans)—

Comic Release: A humorous or farcical interlude in a serious work, especially a tragedy, intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast.

Opening Saturday, April 12, 2003 and continuing through June 15, the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans is pleased to present the nationally touring exhibition Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation. The exhibition takes a look at artists from around the world who are using cartoon imagery to address difficult and often politically sensitive situations. This lively exhibition also includes a section devoted to contemporary ‘zines,’ comic books, and graphic novels. The exhibition is curated by Vicky A. Clark and Barbara J. Bloemink for the Regina Miller Gouger Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University and organized and toured by Pamela Auchincloss/Arts Management, New York. Zines were curated by Richard Gribenas, and comics and graphic novels curated by Ana Merino.

• A preview reception, free and open to the public, will be held Friday evening, April 11, 6-8 p.m.
  
• A panel discussion featuring curator Vicky A. Clark, artists Blake Boyd, Sally French, and Pamela Joseph, and zines curator Richard Gribenas will be held on Sunday, April 13, 1-3 p.m. The panel is free and the public is invited.

With power and a zap, cartoon imagery has recently exploded. Artists, graphic novelists, and zine makers everywhere are taking advantage of the potential to tell stories in a recognizable and familiar language. Today, artists use cartoon imagery to address problematic issues that are difficult to assimilate into the mainstream through purely realistic depictions. In the process of taking on difficult social issues, they participate in the construction of identity in its many guises, weaving aspects such as race, gender, sexual orientation, violence and war, loss of innocence, and the commodification of identity into complex, layered tales. And at times, they make us laugh at ourselves.

Comic Release features art by more than fifty nationally-known and emerging artists, including Laylah Ali, Michael Bevilacqua, Blake Boyd, Enrique Chagoya, Michael Ray Charles, Nicole Eisenman, Inka Essenhigh, Neil Farber, Chris Finley, Karen Finley, Gottfried Helnwein, Arturo Herrera, Leslie Lew, Kerry James Marshall, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Walter Robinson, Al Souza, Kara Walker, and Sue Williams. An illustrated catalog will soon be available.

Visual Arts programs are supported by ChevronTexaco, Hibernia National Bank and proceeds from the 2002 No-Frills Auction for the Visual Arts. The Contemporary Arts Center is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts; by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a Federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership and a lifetime of learning; by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans and supplemented by Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans, and by The Sydney & Walda Besthoff Foundation, Downman Family Foundation, Freeport-McMoRan Foundation, Goldring Family Foundation, Caroline P. & Charles W. Ireland Foundation, Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation, the Zemurray Foundation, and by members of the Business Arts Fund: BellSouth, Dorian M. Bennett, Inc., The Sydney & Walda Besthoff Foundation, Le Chat Noir, Harrah’s New Orleans, Lee Ledbetter Architects, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans Silversmiths, Cole Pratt Gallery, Wisznia Associates.

Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp Street, New Orleans

Gallery Hours:

Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11am – 5pm

Admission:

Free/CAC Members

$5/Non-members

$3/Sudents and Seniors

Free to all on ChevronTexaco Thursdays

Hibernia KidsFree—All kids 15 and under free everyday!

For guided tours of the exhibition contact Marie Lamb at 504.528.3805.

For more information, slides and/or jpegs, contact Kellie Whitmyer at 504.528.3805, kwhitmyer@cacno.org.

– cac –

Christopher Saunders

Pamela Auchincloss/ Arts Management

601 W. 26th Street, 12th floor

New York, NY 10001

P: 212-727-2845

F: 212-727-9509

christopher@artsms.com