~ MARC BELL Dept. ~

CARTOONink!

2011-09-03T14:56:00.001-07:00

Hey well, there is also this in Chicago-town.

BIG PAJAMAS TOUR

2011-08-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

I am joining Anders Nilsen in September on the eastern leg of his big Big Questions tour to celebrate the release of my pure Pure Pajamas book from D & Q. My new 96 page book is kind of like the opening band for his giant 600 page plus rock and roll monster stage show tome (sorry Anders, for that analogy). Mark Connery will be joining us later for a Beguiling event (some kind of panel discussion!). Here are the dates:

9/9 – Baltimore: Atomic Books: SPXplosion with a whole bunch of persons reading and signing)
9/10-11 – Bethesda: SPX
9/13 – Pittsburgh: Copacetic
9/14 – Philadelphia: Brickbat
9/15 – NYC: 192 Books
9/16 – Brooklyn: Desert Island
9/24 – Toronto: Venue TBA (with Mark Connery)

ZINE DREAM

2011-08-17T06:42:00.001-07:00

Mark Connery and I will be at ZINE DREAM this Sunday, selling copies of his Melamine Car Bomb and probably some other things too. I thought I might also bring along a copy of (the soon to be released) Pure Pajamas in case anybody wants to have a look. I think Mark will also have a new zine he just might give you with purchase of a book (or he might just give you anyway). While supplies last.

The photo above (from the sweetie pie press) shows a copy of Mark's 2009 zine version of Melamine Car Bomb in the background (the blue one). When I was editing Melamine Car Bomb (the book), I completely forgot about this zine (even though it was in my collection). Also, the drawing I lifted the words from for the title is not in the original zine. And nor are any of the other drawings. Weird. Man. Whut?

info:

Sunday, August 21 2011
from 12 to 5 pm.
Zine Dream is an annual small press art fair featuring over 50 vendors of self published books, comics, music, zines, hand made crafts, prints & much more!

Featuring music by Fresh Flesh, Skull Bong and Moon Wood, DJ’s Laura Mccoy, Val Uher & Boogie Woogie Mix Tape Library. Plus performances by Kathleen Phillips and Amelia Ehrhardt.

@ The TRANZAC, 292 Brunswick Ave Toronto, Ont.

Pay What You Can

RECENT MAILINGS

2011-08-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Samples Include: L'Articho, Billy Bert Young/Hide and Seek Show and Tell, Shrimpy et Paul, Hallmark, Jim Nutt, Statistics Canada, Struts Gallery, Cool Dog, The Rocket, Nog A Dod (Amy Lockhart), The Village Idiot, Rodman Hall

ALSO COMING SOON: MARK CONNERY BOOK

2011-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

I recently edited this book of Mark Connery works for a mysterious outfit called Half World Books. Should be out in September-ish. More details soon!

THE WAR WITH PAPER CONTINUES, COMING SOON: PURE PAJAMAS

2011-06-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

If you click on this it isn't so out of focus.

"I kept thinking this clown was hard, but apparently he just kept rapping about food.” (The original 'HOT POTATO')

2011-06-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

Above: NOT Flav OR 'HOT POTATO' (random internet image)

I watched Krush Groove recently and wanted to know more about this film (for one: why?) and discovered this great story on Wikipedia:

During an interview to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film, Russell Simmons reflected on the legacy of Krush Grove and its position in hip-hop culture history. The film, Simmons said, is still recognizable not only for having brought together so many Def Jam stars at the time, but for also introducing new talent, such as LL Cool J. Cool J was so persistent during filming, showing up to shooting locations and performing freestyles, that producers ended up putting him in the final cut. This backdoor auditioning process became a staple of the production. “Other cats weren’t so lucky,” Simmons said. “We had this one cat who tried to be like LL, and we just couldn’t understand what his gig was. Dude was a total clown. He was wearing a clock around his neck way before Flav. Neon jumpsuits, everything. Of course our whole thing was black leather and adidas. That was the thing in rap at that time. He came in speaking some sort of pigeon English and just kept groping our female set workers. We called him ‘Hands’ at first cause we didn’t know what else to call him.” Simmons went out to explain that, after some time, they crew realized ‘Hands’ was actually speaking siSwati, a sister tongue to siZulu. “That’s when we called in Afrika Bambaataa, you know, cause this is ’84, right. The Zulu Nation was hot at that time, working that African infusion into everything, breakbeats, graffiti, peace in communities. We thought Afrika could translate. Nah, son. Ends up that dude doesn’t know a word of zulu.” As former crew members tells it, the rapper referred to himself as ‘Lishisa Lizambane’, siSwati for ‘Hot Potato’. Run of Run-DMC recalls “We didn’t know how he got to the Bronx, but apparently cat was from Africa. Like real Africa. As in, middle-of-nowhere Swaziland Africa.” ‘Hot Potato’ was a self-dubbed name, due to his penchant for passing himself around amongst ladies, not unlike the action of a real hot potato. As for his freestyles, Simmons claims he “had no idea what was happening, cause it was all jumbled up siSwati and English. He wouldn’t perform without a stick in his hand, occasionally made bird whistles, and randomly did high leg kicks for no reason. I remember thinking he was rappin’ about police, police, police. Come to find out, he just kept using this word ‘liphalishi’ which is some sort of a staple meal where he comes from. I kept thinking this clown was hard, but apparently he just kept rapping about food.” Due to the absurd nature of this unknown, producers couldn’t justify including one his performances in the final cut, out of fear of alienating their core audience. “We actually tried to film him in a scene once,” remembers Kurtis Blow, “but he kept putting his mug all up on Sheila E.” After filming, ‘Hot Potato’ was never seen from him again, although speculation is that he returned to native Swaziland. “Thats unfortunate,” says Simmons, “cause once Public Enemy came out we realized just how ahead of the game ‘Hands’... excuse me... ‘Hot Potato’ really was.”

ENTER 3 part1 (časopis o súčasnom umení a literatúre)

2011-05-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

For all you out there who speak Slovak, I have a translated interview in the issue of ENTER (edited by Riso Kitta). They also translated my strip Duhy Science Network. Martin Groch has posted some excerpts here.

GIANT BOTTLE OF LIQUID PAPER

2011-05-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

I am in a two person show with Jim Woodring right now at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston, Texas called Walpurgis Afternoon (curated by Robert Boyd). Jim Woodring demonstrated his GIANT PEN as part of the opening festivities. I was asked to partake and so I drew a GIANT BOTTLE of LIQUID PAPER.

This drawing (see above) is being auctioned off (along with many other works of art, including Jim's giant pen drawing) to benefit SKYDIVE, a local artist run center.

IGNORE THAT UGLY OL' THING ON AMAZON

2011-04-15T08:32:00.001-07:00

This is the real cover for PURE PAJAMAS.

Until I change the colour scheme again.

TING's LUKE WORM

2011-04-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

A papier mache sculpture of TING's Luke Worm as seen at the London City Press Club. I happened upon this place a couple months ago when a friend played a music show there. I'd ne'er heard of it. It's in a funny location, on the bottom floor of an apartment building, next to a convenience store (it relocated here in the 90's from it's original location). The door handle is a pencil, the logo on the door is a pen nib and the walls are filled with framed originals (bolted to the wall) by Merle "Ting" Tingley and other cartoonists from "back in the day", including Chester Gould, Ferd Johnson, Al Capp, Doug Wright and others. Some of them musta been visting or somethin' because a couple suggest they shared drinks there ( "They wouldn't let ya pay for a drink, huh, Moon?" -Ferd Johnson). Maybe some of them were buds with Ting(?). When I was a boy (spoken in stupid voice), I used to check out Ting's cartoons all the time in the London Free Press, not really for the politics but for the worm he hid in each drawing. I had not seen this earlier style but I love it:

Will It Come To This? from Ting Cartoons

Dated 1954 (This must be "pre-worm"...or at least I cannot see one in there...)

Ferd Johnson at London City Press Club

Chester Gould at London City Press Club

MY NEW PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG

2011-04-04T13:31:00.001-07:00

Irish Spring in London, Ontario

Scooter with Dirty, Narrow Pilon

Giant Tiger Bag and Thawing Box and Pizza Hut Box

(BTW: I received an e-mail from Pizza Pizza today offering me a free Large Pizza Hut Pizza.)

Broken Shovel

Wonderful Red Tractor on High Street

SWED

2011-03-28T17:59:00.001-07:00

I will be showing these drawings and some other ones as part of the exhibition FAMILY SHIRT curated by Matthew Feyld at KRETS in Sweden.

Opening: 09 April at 19:00
Closing: 08 May at 15:00

K R E T S
Kristianstadsgatan 16
Malmö, Sweden

THAT OL' 80's MONSTER

2011-03-27T19:07:00.001-07:00

NOW AVAILABLE!

DIZZ NEEDS SOME MORE DOLLARS

2011-02-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

Amy Lockhart's Dizzler project is almost there but needs that final push. Check out the Trailer here and donate money to win fabulous Dizzler prizes.

No, I am Not the Drummer From the Ramones

2011-02-07T18:02:00.000-08:00

But I am pleased to be taking part in:

“LA MIGRA!”
A Group Show curated by Devendra Banhart

VICE GALLERY, Mérida 109, esq. Alvaro Obregón Col. Roma, Mexico City.
Opening February 23rd!

Zach Hill
Marc Bell
Eric Wareheim
Jerry Hsu
Beck
Melissa Shimkovitz
Kevin Long
Adam Green
David Tibet
Marilyn Manson
Fabrizio Moretti
Alia Shawkat
Nat Russell
Thomas Campbell
Travis Keller
Angeline Rivas
Keegan McHargue
Adam Tullie

NOTE: The image above was chosen somwhat arbitrarily from Google Image Search

2011-01-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

Opening at Rodman Hall on Thursday January the 20th, 2011

He Oughta Know

2010-12-28T11:22:00.001-08:00

An update to a pre-Christmas post: young Graham Cherwaty of London, Ontario has received his Potatoe. And look at the look on that boy's face! Priceless!

ALFE FAN ART

2010-12-10T10:26:00.000-08:00

ALFE fan art created by Amy Lockhart and I.

You can watch PROBLEM SOLVERZ here.

Hot Potatoes for Christmas

2010-12-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

My friend Graham Cherwaty threw this together after reading this.

ETSY SHOP

2010-11-12T16:24:00.001-08:00

The sidebar of this blog was getting a little cluttered and so I decided to move my macrame owls and tin foil clipper ships over to a new Etsy shop (I'm website challenged so this makes it a little easier). I'll be adding more but right now you can find some new items including limited edition prints and some unearthed oldies.

SIDEWINDER limited edition print

2010-11-07T18:28:00.001-08:00

Limited edition print of SIDEWINDER on heavy German paper (archival).
Edition of 15 (numbered and signed).
Paper size is 24" high by 18" wide.
Price may go up as edition runs out.
Shipped flat.

Details:

HE'S INTO CB

2010-11-03T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was never happy with the way I coloured this for VICE and so I decided to fix it up a bit. Even though blogspot does something weird to the colours and lines anyway.

PROG 8: IN PROGRESS

2010-10-25T13:17:00.001-07:00

The remainder.

Almost all that stuff above has been integrated into this one (unfinished).

And so, that's all to do with this and that for now. Though, I am realizing just now that I did make a tiny error in all this. If you can spot it than you might win a prize (I have probably made several errors here but I mean the one I am thinking of!)

Thank you for your undivided attention.

PROG 7: REMOVE

2010-10-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Well, would you look at that. If this were a cookie you were eating, this thing would almost be gone.

Remove uses these pieces (indicated in red).

Yeah, so that's it. Remove also incorporates part of another work that I dismantled (title: Mike's Plastic Turd). It's the vaguely head-shaped part at the top left. It was reworked here to fit better.

And then I added that 3-d thing.

PROG 6: SCHLUMBERGER

2010-10-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

To recap: I chopped up an artwork to make several smaller works. The one we are focusing on here uses only a small portion of the original. It is the area indicated, circled in red (NOTHING IS WASTED IN THE WAR WITH PAPER).

Now, can you see where I placed it on this one? In the top left section...

Anyway, this one is called SCHLUMBERGER. Schlumberger is a large company that has something to do with oil production. This artwork has little or nothing to do with oil production nor is it endorsed by Schlumberger.

A red roof was added so that it might appear as though the work was built in Sweden (or something like that). Seeing the work in real life might make this more clear. The red is a little dull here.

PROG 5: HONK IF YOO PAY THROO THE SCHNOZZ

2010-10-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, now on to this one.

This one was a real pain in the neck. It made me question my vocation, if you know what I mean.

The real story would have been ridiculous to show here. Parts of this thing kept getting painted over and over again...it's not really clear here how much it was fussed with.

So, this is it, HONK IF YOO PAY THROO THE SCHNOZZ, and I am done with it (I hope). I decided to name my next show after this work, a show at Rodman Hall in St. Catherines, Ontario (I think I decided this before I had so much trouble with it, haw).

PROG 4: Attach a Gum or (CONCEPTUAL)

2010-10-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Up next is Attach a Gum or (CONCEPTUAL). This is another work that was created out of the chopped up pieces of this larger one (see above, areas used are indicated in red).

As you can see here, parts of the pieces were painted over in an attempt to simplify things a bit. Also, the "flag" indicated by the arrow is from an older work called Don't Let it Leek. It was repainted for this work.

More areas have been re-painted here in an attempt to simplify this further.

PROG 3: R

2010-10-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, so a while back I was showing the progress of some things I had been working on (most of which are now finished). Several of these works were derived from this thing (above). I wasn't so sure about how this thing was working out and so I ended up cuttting it up into several new pieces. The area indicated with red became the basis of the work titled R, which we will focus on here today.

It's fairly simple, see, I just stuck it on a bigger board and started painting on it some more.

And...

I wasn't sure about the head in the middle so I painted over that a bit.

And I eventually decided I wanted to change the head completely and so I added this 3-D painted construction to it. It's on a slant and so if you look up and over you can actually still see the old head in behind.

HAPPY HIGHWATER WEEK

2010-10-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

I already done posted the poster I created for the HIGHWATER BOOKS show in Boston, but lookee here, the good folks that worked hard to put the actual exhibition together also transformed part of it into some great wall signage (above).

(pictured here: Greg, TD, Brooke, Jef, not shown: Emily, shown as weird sculpture: Tom Devlin)

Part of the Highwater oral history can be read here:
PART 1
PART 2

REMOVABLE PANTS (MB and JM and PT at GRSF)

2010-09-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here we go again, folks!

I am showing some work with fellow collaborators Jason McLean and Peter Thompson at GIANT ROBOT (San Fran), opening October 16th (while APE is happening).

In addition to the solo work, Thompson and I will be showing some new drawings. Some include "slots" and "Foghat". There will also be some drawings from our Fellowship of the Ring series (after Tolkein).

McLean and I will be showing some work from our Stand Tall Guru series.

BOUND AND GAGGED

2010-08-31T14:22:00.001-07:00

Left: Jason Overby Right: Moi

Tom Neely has put together an anthology of gag cartoons with an accompanying exhibition. It's all going down at Secret Headquarters in L.A. on September the 3rd. More info here.

THE POCKET SHOW ("Vancouver Artgallery")

2010-08-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

Above:
Vancouver Artgallery
Mixed Media on Board
4" x 3.75"

This piece will be in the The Pocket Show (The Biggest Little Art Show).

(As you can see it has the original art for the masthead of this blog worked in there.)

My my, it's NOT at the Vancouver Artgallery, it's at:
156 West Hastings ( at Cambie )
Vancouver, BC

Opening:
Sunday Sept 5th 7:00pm - 12:00am

Running until:
September 18th 11:00am - 5:00pm

Over 100 artists working within 4 x 4 inches or smaller in painting/sculpture/photography/or..?

There will be live music and disc jockeys and all that jazz.

STARSHIP OF BONE AND OTHER FAVOURITES

2010-08-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

I put together a mix of mostly Canadian "low-fi" stuff for INKSTUDS.

Here is the track listing:

1. #08 – Terry Piercey
2. #22 – Terry Piercey
3. #01 – Terry Piercey
4. #20 – Terry piercey
5. Superworm – Mouth Harp Ensemble
6. Tastebud – Untanned Hide of a Young Cow
7. Bonus Song for the First Week – Untanned Hide of a Young Cow
8. Backwards Seeds – Ambergris
9. Mountain Pony – Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine
10. Nurse April – Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine
11. Never to Return – Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine
12. Coconut – Drue Langlois
13. Path of Destruction – Drue Langlois
14. Ppop – Discombobulated Ventriloquist
15. German Child with Small Trout – Translucent Tubes
16. Singing Parkade – 40 winks
17. Paid In Foam – Ambergris
18. Dingbatters – Captain Haircut & DJ Sweatpants
19. I Thought you Said you had a Hot Tub and a Steamroom – G.K.A.
20. Hello-Goodbye/Interlude/Colour Of Green – Terraform
21. I saw a Universe in my Sock Drawer – Translucent Tubes
22. A Little Thunderstorm – Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine
23. Valet 10 [Jupiter did Walk on the Dragonfly's Grave] – Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine
24. Potion – U-Play Walkman
25. Wim-Wam – U-Play Walkman
26. In a Coma – U-Play Walkman
27. Starship Of Bone – Poseidon Council
28. Kindergarten Symphony – Mouth Harp Ensemble
29. South American Folk Song – Mouth Harp Ensemble
30. Hillside Chapel – Colin Mclaine
31. I Can’t Watch Automag (With this Fuckin’ TV) – Unknown

A. + B.

2010-08-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

I just designed the poster for an upcoming show about Highwater Books at Fourth Wall Project in Boston, MA.

PURE PAJAMAS TO APPEAR IN NEXT SMOKE SIGNAL

2010-08-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

A strip featuring Pure Pajamas is scheduled to appear in the next issue of Desert Island's SMOKE SIGNAL(excerpt above, actual strip may not appear as shown).

FREE DRAWINGS #8

2010-08-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

Mr. Peter Thompson and I have a collaborative drawing in issue #8 of FREE DRAWINGS. It's the final one!

The Car Engine Invitational Drawing Show

2010-08-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Anders Nilsen asked a bunch of us to draw some 'car engines' and that's what we did. This interesting looking show is hanging in Chicago's Lula Cafe. The above car engine is by Jeffrey Brown and you can see mine (and more info) over here.

PROG PART 2 (revised)

2010-06-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

Hello There. Last time I presented several works in progress. This time I am re-presenting some of them (not all) with a little more elbow grease applied. Hmm. Well. Here is Honk If You Pay Throo The Schnozz but closer to being finished. If you look at the previous post you can see this work in two previous states.

Here is the updated Schlumberger. Did you know that Schlumberger is also a company that has something to do with the oil industry?

Yes, yes, this is R (formerly Untitled). In case you missed the explanation: this is continuing series of updates, we now present...

Attach A Gum Or (Floss). This has too much yellow in it. And white. All will be fiddled with and/or fall asunder.

PROG

2010-06-15T16:07:00.001-07:00

Been Working on some ding dongs:

This one has no name as of yet.

This one has the working title "Schlumberger".

"Honk if you Pay Throo the Schnozz"

"Chicken Curried Cripes" needs some work, dammit.

"Bad Beer Sugar Yeast", a truthful account.

"Attach a Gum or" ?

And you may be able to see, these are mostly the result of chopping up this one:

Stay tuned for the thrilling results and also, figure out if this is "Art Comics" or not. PS: I don't think it is.

A PRAGMATIC BUNCH (2010 European Tour)

2010-05-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

As you already know, this blog is mainly a cash-grab to try to capitalize on the Marc Bell-Craze currently sweeping the nations (I kid: it is mainly for me to keep track of the things I am doing), but I am going to back off on the BIG BUSINESS for a moment and put up some dazzling pictures of my recent (and first) trip to Europe. Well, they are mainly of the Netherlands since the camera never seemed like it was charged in France. Also, France became a bit of a chore as Amy Lockhart and I were stuck in ash cloud delays (you really don't need to see us there in Bordeaux, sitting and waiting on the terasse).

I almost never buy these rock nerd mags but this seemed fitting (gabriel is referenced several times in my award-winning book HOT POTATOE). But more importantly, mags must really be in trouble as this issue included a remote control in addition to the free cd. Great for international flights.

"Welcome to the Fuzzy Netherlands," says the famous and underappreciated Marc Bell, "Are you sick of this jacket yet?" This was after I almost fell in the canal washing the bike chain grease off my hands. Their bikes are very well-designed BTW. The Dutch are a pragamatic bunch and I must say I love their pann-a-kooks and syrup. Later, Amy Lockhart and I became lost in a whole other city that I forget the name of. About a 30 minute bike ride away from Amsterdam. That's two years by European standards. At a certain point we stopped asking children for directions and switched to nice old men on bikes (and found our way back).

Well, there, that photo turned out, didn't it? Here's Boris Kousemaker (son of the late, great Kees Kousemaker) helping me sort out my MODURN MITHOES show at Lambiek. Those are good dudes at Lambiek. Plus, they have these amazing old Mark Beyer posters. They are one of the few places to ever host a Beyer show, I believe.

What is that Amy and Boris are looking at?

Why, it's a building designed by the great Dutch cartoonist Jooste Swarte! Like my old friend Gert Jan Pos says, walking around the streets of Amsterdam is like walking through a museum, so it was interesting to see this in the mix. Say what you will about their disdain of marijuana, the Dutch really do respect their gutter arts.

Here is a diagram of the building by Swarte. It is funny because I had just seen a printout of this very drawing a few days before at a printer where Swarte brings some of his work. This printer makes his own paper if you can believe that and Lambiek created two different limited edition prints of my work there.

Of course, this one goes out to Devlin. We were sad to admit we didn't take pictures of the fantastic balsa wood Moomins in Japan so hopefully this makes up for it?

And...

Oh, ok, here we are in France. In the offices of Éditions Cornélius. I was there to sign some Ex Libris for my Shrimpy et Paul and they were kind enough to supply Amy with some volumes of Kitaro (pictured here in 3-d form).

Oh yes, and we had to get a pic of this dude in Bordeaux. A green pepper M & M.

And this is a picture of Amy Lockhart and I living in one of those tiny fishing villages on the coast of France where they serve those oysters fresh-outta-the ocean with white wine and all that jazz.

SCHEME OF THE BELLY WOT!

2010-05-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

THANKS TO THE DOUG WRIGHT AWARDS AND TCAF FOR THE PIGSKIN PETERS.

Incidentally, I have heard that my SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS FOR PROPOSED OBJECTS have been nominated for a NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARD. I have added the booklet of the same name to the sidebar at right. And the new BELLY WOT LEAFLET! as well. Snap 'em up?

GNEWEST MATCHOE is almost....

2010-05-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I should say, the remaining few from the the edition have dinged corners. Let me know if you would still like one. They will remain at the (already low) price of 35 dollars postpaid. A fair price in this overheated silkscreen market of ours. You love this (Peter Thompson ref.)

NEW BOOKS AT TCAF

2010-05-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

I will have a table somewhere near the Drawn and Quarterly booth at TCAF with Amy Lockhart. She will have some nice new t-shirts there. And some movies and minis. I'll have a couple new limited edition books there, yes:

BELLY WOT LEAFLET!
16 pages, 7" x 5.25", colour

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS FOR PROPOSED OBJECTS
16 pages, 5.5" x 4.25", colour

I will also have:

-copies of KELP STINGRAY (limited edition collab w/Matthew Thurber published by Nieves)
-DID YOU SEE THE EXHIBITION OF THE CHUNKY FLOORS? (exhibition catalog and posters)
-SHRIMPY AND PAUL (I think I am the sole "distributor" of this book now!?)
-Some extra "Ex-Libris" from the French edition of SHRIMPY and some other odds and ends

Also, I donated a drawing to the Doug Wright Awards Art Auction (HOT POTATOE has been nominated for two awards this year!*) The drawing will be going up on ebay at some point today (Wednesday April the 5th). The idea was to draw a DC character but I was a little cheeky and drew a Marvel one:

Finally, Amy and I will also be part of a panel on Saturday. As follows:

Canadian Drawing and Cartoon Art in Galleries
Saturday, May 8th, 4:00 – 5:00, The Pilot

In the past several years, comics art has slowly but surely been making its way off the page and into the art gallery. This program showcases a number of cartoonists discussing how the climb to the gallery world affects their art and their careers — and peoples’ perceptions of the medium as a whole. Featuring Seth, Marc Bell, Amy Lockhart, Peter Thompson, Scott Campbell, and Sonja Ahlers. Moderated by Professor Bart Beaty.

Bye bye.

*Though it may appear on the site that I have been nominated for two different books, one called 'Hot Potatoe', the other 'Hot Potatoes'. I just thought that was sort of amusing.

La balle, le pigeon, le pouvoir & une paire de tétons perdue puis retrouvée

2010-04-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

The ball, pigeon, power & a pair of tits lost then found

Marc Bell - SHRIMPY & Paul (Cornelius - 2010)

Monday, March 8, 2010, by Lazare Noisy
Those of you who read blogs in Earlies 2004/2006, blogs have disappeared for most (half a sniff) know how the Bruyantissime was the receptacle of a certain idea of pictorial beauty, of aestheticism without concession. Photographs, graphics, pictures to color with markers dotted the brush library absurd and the most controversial since the chivalrous Don Quixote buddies decided to blaze his own under the pretext that it was better so that the knights who cares & it was for his good ... supposedly. We saw what it gave.

"I know there's magic in the world but it's odd that the food has such an effect."

Poetry sometimes hides in unexpected places and a coupPATATRAS! I find myself speechless, a cartoon from the handcuffs - a "comic" or comic as the cowboys say we'll talk soon (and also because the works in strip Marc Bell & happens to be Canadian English although of Montreal adoption ... must live in one of these neighborhoods, behind Sherbrooke Street, where guys pretend nothing piter in French when you know their requests an orange). Once is not customary in this Fric-Frac Club saturated with words, punctuation and final arguments to the shovel, for once let's talk about drawings, bubbles and strokes. Ouuuuh. The great house Cornelius (really great) publishes a compilation of the adventures of SHRIMPY & Paul, a sort of Laurel and Hardy psyches lunatic out of a footnote on page Moebus (Moebus the psychedelic with neon everywhere, like before Humanoids decide to repaint the Incal brown & poo yuk) and is one of the most simply saving that ever happened to me a long time. Full until the last page of the possible absurd humor, love, blows shitty, dirty trick of pop, hard rock pranks (Marc Bell big fan of Black Sabbath ... also apparently SHRIMPY) burlesque scenes of ass no one sees anything except, perhaps, this odd couple formed SHRIMPY & Paul & their fantastic friends behind, leaping into a chorus on a few strips symmetrical all so tasty that a good trip hallucinogen. There's manga in discrete action and stage directions in the face of this fucking SHRIMPY seems to be the scion of a character from Number 5 Taiyou Matsumoto. It is mostly pure us comic juice at all stages of Crumb in the shadows of the background and in Herriman rounded corners of this great moment of reading. Joseph Ghosn said, there is little, if there were only two or three comics to read right now SHRIMPY & Paul in part, hands down. You know what? He's right. Hundred times over.

(A bad internet translation of this article)

PLEASE JOIN US WON'T YOU

2010-03-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

I will be on a European Tour in early April. I will add to this post as more details come in about the events.

April 2nd, Amsterdam: Lambiek invites you to be present at the opening of Marc Bell's Modern Mithoes. De opening will take place from 1700 hours.

Lambiek - Kerkstraat 132 - 1017 GP - Amsterdam - Tel 020 6267543 - www.lambiek.net

April 8th, Paris: BD Spirit will be hosting the release of Shrimpy et Paul from Cornelius. There will also be some Shrimpy and Paul art on display and possibly some Amy Lockhart cut outs?

Librairie Galerie BD SPIRIT 10 rue Ramey 75018 PARIS 0142542376

April 10th, Bordeaux: Amy Lockhart and I will be appearing at Mauvaise Réputation's booth at Escale Du Livre in Bordeaux.

Amy has also organized a screening of her work and the work of other Canadian animators that will be happening there. More details soon.

WATCH ALL ABOUT IT: 1-800 MICE #4

2010-03-01T09:59:00.001-08:00

GET YER 1-800 MICE by Matthew Thurber!

THE HATRED OF MEGACONES

2010-02-21T07:48:00.000-08:00

Matthew Thurber and I have created a limited edition booklet for Nieves called KELP STINGRAY.

PAUL SEES HIMSELF IN FRENCH FOR THE FIRST TIME

2010-02-12T16:53:00.001-08:00

Éditions Cornélius has published a French Edition of Shrimpy and Paul: Shrimpy et Paul

They really did a top-notch job of recreating my lettering style!

(One-of-a kind doll in the photo above designed by Tara Azzopardi)

GET IT OUT THE DOOR

2010-02-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

PLUNK-IT in the JUNKET (PART THREE, press clippings de la Potat)

2010-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I've narrowly escaped being burned alive by a partially naked lady at VICE

Mike Landry interviews me for the Telegraph Journal on the occasion of my exhibition Did Yoo See The Exhibition of the Chunky Floors? at the Owens in Sackville, NB. Note: I seem to be doing some kind of imitation of a Beat Poet near the end of the article. Also, the photographer had me walking around a bit to "get me moving" and I obliged. But I refused to pretend as though I were hanging one of my pictures on the wall. I also refused to pose for a photo standing in front of the gallery in my winter coat and hat like I "owned the place". Warning to reporters: I am extremely difficult.

It's in there somewhere: The NY Times mentions that H.P. is available on Bernard in Montreal.

Greg Curnoe, View From the Most Northerly Window on the West Wall | Source: Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff © 2001 by the Art Gallery of Ontario (bigger)

There is some pop-talk going on over here at Steel Bananas:
A Short History of Fizzy-Pop: Marc Bell’s Hot Potatoe (sic.) by William Lockett

DORITO CHIP BAG COLLECTIVE (Not Invited)

2010-01-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

WELL?

2010-01-27T11:36:00.001-08:00

GNEWEST MATCHOE FOR SALE, etc

2009-12-29T13:37:00.001-08:00

I recently produced a four colour silkscreen of the drawing Gnewest Matchoe. Signed and numbered out of 60. See "sidebar" for ordering details.

Also avail: SPORE SPREDDER letterpress print produced by Buenaventura Press. Signed and numbered.

With each order of either of these, I will throw in a free *unsigned* Low Tech Time Capsule silkscreen print by myself and Jason Mclean (while supplies last). This was a print produced for a show of small self published books at the Seatac airport (curated by Megan Kelso and Jason Mclean).

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS FOR PROPOSED OBJECTS

2009-12-29T13:04:00.001-08:00

Some illustrations I created for the December issue of the Walrus

THE WAFFLE

2009-12-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

image courtesy: julyfourthtoilet.com (a very fine resource for the band of the same name)

I found this nice review of "The Waffle" (94) buried on the internet somewheres:

Review of "The Waffle", a collection of correspondance and memorablia
(1991-1994), by THE ALL-STAR SCHNAUZER BAND (Jason McLean and Marc Bell) at
Gallery Sansair, August 14 to 24, 1994.

Most galleries are pretentious little shitholes with people trying to be something more important than they are. Well, when I came to Gallery Sansair I had to walk up 2 flights of stairs to get to the christly joint. I normally would have been very angry and upset, but I was inundated with friendly, down-to-earth people giving me coffee, waffles, cake and other goodies. Apparently, the celebrity twins of "The All Star Schnauzer Band" were having an art opening. There was a parade, Hula dancers, and a lavish Waffle Queen. Members of the heavy metal group "July 4th Toilet" even played the Waffle Queen Anthem.

Oh ya, and the art. It was a bunch of intricate doodads all painted up and collaged of envelopes, Polaroids, children's toys, celebrities; etceteras with detailed diagrams and explanations. Neato stuff!

I left full and immature.

Lincoln 'The Tiger' Wilconshire

CRIPPLE CREEK

2009-12-17T19:23:00.001-08:00

Shown Above: 1 by Keith Jones, 3 by Amy Lockhart, 1 by Shayne Ehman

Some photos of CRIPPLE CREEK, a show I am in at Richard Heller curated by Jeff Ladouceur. Also some photos of Jeff's show BAREFOOT IN THE HEAD. None of my works are in these photos but that's AOK, See 'em here at TRY HARDER

SHRIMPY'S INSANE INVENTIONS

2009-12-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

HERE

also: Shrimpy In The Haunted Forest.

MAKES ME THINK OF BASIL

2009-12-08T22:37:00.000-08:00

WOLVERTON

ALL STAR SCHNAUZER BAND

2009-12-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

THE BOYS ARE READY FOR THE NEW TOUR. DUSTPAN BROOM SCHNAUZER IS NEWEST MEMBER. HE 'ET HIS VEGGIES AND CLEANED UP ON HIS OWN. FIRST STOP: GOLDEN HORSESHOE.

NOTE: Ron Rege Jr. sample ("Botfly")

STAND TALL GURU OUTAKES

2009-12-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

Some outakes from the series STAND TALL GURU by myself and Jason Mclean circa 99-00 (?)

THE MANY USES FOR A HOT POTATOE (PRESS JUNKET CONTINUED)

2009-11-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

1. As you can see above, Mr. Paul Pratt has the smarts to use the Potatoe as a Cook Book. Excellent. Photo by Kevin Spenst.

2. Sean Rogers and I used it to discuss the Lime Ricky restaurant chain and other things like artistic globalization on the Walrus blog.

3. Marc and Mark (Medley) pound staples in the Potatoe over at this little newspaper called The National Post.

4. This is a nice excuse to throw up a Guston (above). Andrea Carson briefly discusses art and it's relation to comics using the Potatoe and Guston as a reference point over at View on Canadian Art.

5. Jesse Mcmanus of Williamsburg, Brooklyn uses the "Potat" as something to hold up for the camera at BROKELYN.

6. Rupert Bottenberg sorts out my Waffles in this weeks issue of The Mirror

7. Wayne Allen Brenner uses this Potatoe to great advantage and remarks that the contents are "festooned with puns linguistic and visual and resemble masterpieces penned at the crossroads of personal whimsy and obsessive-compulsive disorder by some precocious 8-year-old". Dat's a good un'! I share the honour with Tony Millionaire over here at the Austin Chronicle.

8. Last but not least: Monsieur Léon Auché shows me how to use the H.P. to recreate the "Ottawa Rural Commune".

Extrapolated Brick Snakes and Eye Worms

2009-11-06T13:16:00.000-08:00

Matt Leines interviewed me for BOOK BY ITS COVER

TRUER WORDS

2009-11-03T11:19:00.000-08:00

Gabe At Desert Island has produced this very nice 6 colour print, a "recoloured" version of my werk "Phew! Comics Ain't Buttah".

Lulu Peabody-Sherman described this work as a "tour de force" and went on to say: "This particular drawing might also be viewed as a compendium piece for an entire Bell era, weaving a number of his themes into an elaborate waffle-bacon headress"

AVAILABLE HERE

AND I REPEAT

2009-10-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Fecal Face interviewed me here.

Hey You JURKS, Here are some more WERKS

2009-10-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

Swanson “D.” Newbury (DAM B U GOLD GALL)

FLUG TAG (Sponser’d By Chunky Floors)

TASK AT HAND (Simulation)

Secure Card (Speculator Gone)

AIRLESS VACUUM (The Gilded Pontoon)

2009-09-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

With apologies to Morris Twance-Morris

SLORNK

2009-09-28T22:28:00.001-07:00

Great article on Cartoon Sound Effects (and his publisher) by Basil Wolverton here.

Image: Basil Woverton (of course)

PLUMMER HI FASHION

2009-09-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

OWEN PLUMMER HAS GONE HI FASHUN! I HOPE THOSE LONDONERS ARE SHARING THE CAKE! AND THE PORK AND BEANS!

WERKS

2009-09-21T10:33:00.001-07:00

BELLY WOT LEAFLET!

(this appeared previously on this blog but uncoloured)

DETAIL:CH. F (Chunky Floors)

(note to art consumers: this is the title of the piece not a "detail" of the piece)

HOT POTATOE OVER DERE

2009-09-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

I have a show and book launch coming up at the Adam Baumgold Gallery

The book is printed and you can see other pictures of it being held up over heah

Here Come the Dancers, You Bastards (it's LIDFEST)

2009-09-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

Lidfest (We Passed the Salt over the Horn)

Watch the Clockface, Closely You Bastards

JAZZ FM (Here Come the Dancers)

IT WAS WRITTEN IN THE HOT POTATOE

2009-08-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

picture of a "HOT POTATO" borrowed from idiomsbykids.com

In my upcoming book HOT POTATOE, there is TONS of my artwork and comics. But besides that there is also some great writing! Drawn and Quarterly has comissioned some of the finest writers in the land to discuss my works and their relevance. It also features a lengthy intereview conducted by Mr. Tom Devlin in "The Morris Room".

Here are some short excerpts from the book:

It was around this time that The Marco struck up an instant friendship with a witty young classmate called Dirty Debbie. It was a friendship that ultimately would rescue The Marco from the precipice of artistic irrelevance. And, in retrospect, it becomes clear that the answer to the original question begs another perhaps more important question: “Who the Hell is Dirty Debbie?”

-Dirty Debbie, from Who the Hell is Dirty Debbie?

Each piece is intricately composed; he means to cover the entire surface from the outset, I would suppose, because he does. He must build the thing in pieces and make his decisions as he goes along, again like a Jazz Musician improvises. Or a Garage Rock Hippy. Or some crazy Dub Reggae Dude. There’s an ideal of structure held in mind as the artist “plays” and the results, no matter the subjects held therein, are fanciful, dancing freak jams. They speak of the surreal. Also like a musician, he has refined his “fills”, his “licks” so to speak. Shading a background or the pattern between two forms takes on intricacies and stylistic peculiarities that remind me of a Cool Jazz or Heavy Prog Rock Player’s constantly evolving interpretation of a standard, bent and personalized so often that the original all but disappears to make way for the new structure.

Tommy Lacroix, from See You In the Funny Pages, Marc Bell: A Highly Organized Guy

In fact, Bell’s bacon rarely behaves like proper bacon at all. In typically evasive fashion, Bell had only this to say about the matter: “I came up with a way to draw bacon that interested me and so I started to repeat it. It looks like an abstracted, boxy form of bacon.” Indeed.

-Lulu Peabody-Sherman from Hello, Is Peter Gabriel There? An Overview of Recurring Memes and Utterances in the Marc Bell Oeuvre

“I understand, Mitch,” Farmer Marco said, putting on his boots, “If you need to work for Slegg, you should go and do it. Slegg is privy to the gnewer ways, he’s more efficient now, and you’ll be in good hands.” He was half–mumbling now, with a frown: “I like to keep things fairly simple but the days of these kinda operations like I run are probably numbered, you gotta expand or yer screwed and all that. You know, the same ol’ “cry–me–a–river” story. Now, Mitch, can you meet up with Chauncey Boy for those supplies? I have a few things I have to do around here.”

Marco was fumbling around now, looking for something, “I can’t find my hat, have you seen it?”

-Balsam Adhesives from Pile Of Bacon

HOT POTATOE TOUR

2009-08-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Drawn and Quarterly is sending me off on a book tour this Fall in support of the HOT POTATOE. I'll post this again later with the times for all of the events but here we have it....

Thursday, October 15th
Adam Baumgold Gallery
60 East 66th St, New York, NY 10065 (6-8 pm, ALSO: HOT POTATOE EXHIBITION!)

Saturday/Sunday, October 17th-18th
Alternative Press Expo
The Concourse, 620 7th St, San Francisco, CA

Monday, October 19th
Lucky's Comics
3972 Main St, Vancouver, BC

Wednesday, October 21st
Family
436 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Sunday, October 25th
Desert Island
540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Friday, November 20th
Magic Pony
694 Queen St West, Toronto, ON

Friday, November 27th
Librairie D+Q Bookstore
211 Bernard Ouest, Montreal, QC

Last Week for PULP FICTION at MOCCA

2009-08-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's the last week for PULP FICTION, a traveling group show that I am part of orgnanized by Museum London (Ontario).

I wasn't expecting as much of a to-do press-wise but it's TDOT after all. There was an article in the Globe and Mail the other day, Unedit My Heart questions why shows such as this sometimes only get attention in the media once they reach Toronto, and other coverage at Akimbo and Art Slant

PRECISION

2009-08-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

This is the last week of Precision, a show I am in at one of two new spaces for The Adam Baumgold Gallery.The exhibits end on August 14th.

60 EAST 66th STREET NEW YORK, NY 10065
PHONE: 212-861-7338

FEAR NOT MY NOG, FOR YOU ARE NOT STAGNANT

2009-07-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, my Nog, "Amazon.ca" still loves you. Look, there you are up there in the top 5 with the big boys of the "Exhibition Catalogues" section....

...hanging out with some books about the Met or something (fancy lad you are). While normally hovering in the nether regions of this site ('round 1,000,000th or so) for some unknown reason(s) Nog A Dod (a collection of "Prehistoric Canadian Psychedoolia") placed around the 2,000 or so mark in the sale rankings. Nog also appears to have ranked above The Group Of Seven in "Arts>History & Criticism> Regional>Canadian." Interesting:

Also, I was sure at one point I saw you at #1 in "Canadian Anthologies" but I managed to catch you here with a "screen shot" at #3:

Sorry Japanese Photobooks of the 1960's and 70's, that's how it goes sometimes, buddy. Nog!

POSTSCRIPT: finally, we find our Nog currently here.

THE BLOB NOT LIKED

2009-07-30T13:18:00.001-07:00

Toronto's XTRA don't like it!

2009-07-28T09:26:00.001-07:00

Attention Germanic readers: An 18 panel strip of mine will be appearing in the August issue of the German edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. Yas.

Do You Know Where I Can Find Sharky?

2009-07-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

SLOE, BELLY WOT LEAFLET!

2009-07-07T14:38:00.001-07:00

A Detail of SLOE

SLOE

BELLY WOT LEAFLET (uncoloured)

TWO MORE SECONDS

2009-07-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

The Torontoist weighs in on the ol' Pulp Fiction shew. There are some pretty good pictures including a picture of a man disappearing and reappearing in front of some works by Peter Thompson.

Image: Seth Scriver and Shayne Ehman's air-brushed car hood.

THE COLLAGIST

2009-07-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

I helped make some of the pieces for Amy Lockhart's new animated movie "The Collagist" which happens to be loosely based on my collage stylings/method of creation. It debuted as part of GIVE UP THE GHOST, Amy's show last month at La Centrale in Montreal. A review and photos of the show are here.

2009-06-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

"...like pages pulled from the binder of that guy with the bloodshot eyes and the Butthole Surfers t-shirt in math class who always wanted to borrow your eraser."

ALL HAIL PETEY!

2009-06-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

READ HERE

(photo collage by Kropo)

NOT KING OF FLOORS EITHER

2009-06-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

No, this is not propaganda for THE EXHIBITON OF THE CHUNKY FLOORS, this is a notice that PULP FICTION, a group show I am in is travelling to the MOCCA in Terrawnto.

Yes it's true:

Opening party: June 26, 7 - 11 p.m.
Featuring the smooth summer sounds of Toronto synth-rock-pop combo The D’Urbervilles

HEY BUDDY, Get the **** Outta Da' Way, Hot Potat. Comin' Troo! (not actually shaped like this)

2009-06-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

HOT POT:

CANADUHIANS

AHHMURRICANS

JAPASNEEZERS

JGERMAHNNZS

(Gebundene Ausgabe)

DONNNE FERGET ZEE FREUNCH!

JOLLY GOOD WELL DONE

YOU: "WHERE ELSE AM I LIVING AND PRE-ORDERING???"

MY SONGBOOK

2009-06-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

A review of my ILLUSTRATED CARTOON VIDEOS on the Walrus Site. Sean Rogers did a great job of providing some links to the actual videos for the songs I drew "covers" of. Be sure to check out The Queenhaters' "I Hate The Bloody Queen!" Not included is a link to Mick Jagger's audio-visual masterpiece "Let's Work!" but you can see it HERE.

Too bad my copies of these are almost gone! I think I have three left of the whole 100 copies that were printed. You can probably imagine all the revenue I have gathered exploiting the talents of these overlooked and impoverished songsmiths (like Britney Spears and Tony Iommi).

Whoops, I mean, too bad I never had any copies of this! Whut the?! Who made this book? Whu? Whu? Who did they get to draw that cover??? It looks a lot like me, I can't even see the difference, can you see the difference??? Has everybody in JAPAN ordered their HOT POTATOE????!!

BIG BOY PAYS FOR IT

2009-04-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

LIFE DRAWING

2009-03-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

I am part of an opening at Magic Pony's new gallery space, yawp.

Part Two in a series of Grape Juice themed Movies: it's SAGUARO

2009-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

A Moment On the Lips, A New Taffy Hips

2009-03-02T12:55:00.001-08:00

There is an interview with me in the new Taffy Hips #2. Also, my cartoony brother Matthew Thurber!

More info here

THESE GUYS

2009-02-25T11:12:00.001-08:00

I sent these guys one of my drawings (this one) via Gabriel at Desert Island and they took it and blew it up to around 17 x 22" and printed it on a sheet of newsprint 10,000 times with rock shows listed on the back and there we have it: Showpaper Issue 47.

Their Myspace

Enough Fake Record Covers To Choke a Horse

2009-02-25T11:06:00.001-08:00

I made up some of those random Facebook fake record covers. I decided when I came up with this one it might be a good time to stop. 1971 Hurricane Season's Teach Us Who We Are.

GRAPE-A-JOOZ

2009-01-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

I've been posting these strips that were turned into short movies by Dan Wiebe of Winnipeg. As you can see/hear, he added some little extra graphics and songs. The strips originally appeared in Vice and he shot the strips from the printed page.

SHRIMPY, MR. SOCKS, THE BALL AND THE WALL

2009-01-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

CONES

2009-01-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

CONES has a very experimental soundtrack (NSFW???)

FOOD CHAIN

2009-01-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

PIZZA PEACE FROG PIE CARTOON VIDEO

2009-01-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

A while back I came across a whole bunch of home-made movies of my VICE comic strips on Youtube (set to music with some added titles and things). And I wondered to myself: who on earth took the time to create them? I later found out (after they mysteriously vanished from Youtube) that Dan Wiebe of Winnipeg had created them and he was kind enough to send me the files. This is my favourite (and Tom Devlin's?? and Will Habington's favorite too???): PIZZA PIE! Set to the tune of PEACE FROG by the Doors! I will continue to post more of these in the future. Thanks Dan.

SUPERNATURAL COMPUTER

2009-01-13T15:15:00.001-08:00

I remember having a hell of a time piecing this drawing together on my old computer, it didn't work. Anyway, it worked this time: here is Supernatural Hot Rug #2. This is the sequel to the drawing of the same name and it will appear in HOT POTATOE, my new "monograph" from Drawn and Quarterly in the Fall 2009.