Gahan Wilson to Appear at Fantagraphics Bookstore

Press release from Fantagraphics Books:

Legendary Master of Macabre Gahan Wilson in Seattle Sat., Feb. 13!


Legendary Master of Macabre Cartoonist Gahan Wilson Appears at Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on Saturday, February 13!

Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery in Seattle is pleased to host a rare appearance by the incomparable Gahan Wilson. Best known for his grotesque gag cartoons commenting on contemporary culture, the revered artist commemorates the publication of with an exhibition of original art and book signing on Saturday, December 13 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Gahan Wilson’s singular aesthetic with decidedly low brow sensibilities has roots in his adolescent exposure to lurid horror comic books and pulp magazines. ''I was a creepy little kid,” Wilson recalls. “I did the whole comic book thing, and then I discovered Weird Tales – instantly homed right in on that around high school, and just loved it.” His early illustrations found their way to the pages of the pulps and were later published in prestigious periodicals like Collier’s, The New Yorker, and Playboy.

His delightfully demented sense of humor is celebrated in GAHAN WILSON: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, an exquisite 3-volume slipcase edition from Fantagraphics Books that includes over 1,000 comics and illustrations by the acknowledged master of the macabre as well as all of Wilson’s prose fiction in Playboy. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet an America original, one week short of his 80th birthday.

Also on display on February 13 for one night only is a recently completed sculpted portrait of comix legend R. Crumb by Seattle artist Michael Leavitt. Commissioned for a private out-of-state collection, this will provide the only opportunity to view the fully articulated wood carved figure – the latest addition to Leavitt’s ongoing “Art Army” series.

The reception on Saturday February 13 coincides with the colorful Georgetown Second Saturday Art Attack featuring visual and performing arts presentations throughout the neighborhood, just in time for Valentine’s Day. What better place for art mavens of all ages to observe this romantic occasion than in the enchanting industrial arts quarter of Georgetown.

Listing Information:
Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons
Saturday, February 13, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery
1201 S. Vale St. (at Airport Way S.) Seattle, WA
Phone 206.658.0110
Open daily 11:30 – 8:00 PM, Sundays until 5:00 PM.

ALSO: Be sure to tune in to KUOW 94.9's "Weekday" show from 9AM to 10AM, on Friday, Feb. 12th, when Gahan will be talking to host Steve Scher about the event and his legendary career. [END]

GAHAN WILSON at the STRAND: Tues, Jan. 19

Press release from Fantagraphics Books:


FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS AND THE STRAND PRESENT: An evening with GAHAN WILSON

Signing and discussing his new book: GAHAN WILSON: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons

Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons by Gahan Wilson; Price: $125.00 • ISBN- 978-1606992982; Full Color

Three hard covers in an embossed slipcase with a plexiglass back. A complete collection of Gahan Wilson's comic strips, including pieces from Playboy and National Lampoon. Gahan Wilson is among the most popular, widely-read, and beloved cartoonists in the history of the medium, whose career spans the second half of the 20th century, and all of the 21st. His work has been seen by hundreds of millions in the pages of Playboy, The New Yorker, Punch, The National Lampoon, and many other magazines. It’s about time that a collection of his cartoons was published that did justice to his vast body of work. Gahan Wilson’s illustrations have appeared in every issue of Playboy from the December 1957 issue to today.

Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons features not only every cartoon Wilson drew for Playboy, but all his prose fiction that has appeared in that magazine as well, from his first story in the June 1962 issue, “Horror Trio,” to such classics as “Dracula Country” (September 1978). It also includes the text-and-art features he drew for Playboy, such as his look at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, his take on our country’s “pathology of violence,” and his appreciation of “transplant surgery.”

About The Writer
Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style, and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams.

Wilson received the World Fantasy Convention Award in 1981, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and is the subject of a feature length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.

GAHAN WILSON: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons
Tuesday, January 19, 7PM
THE STRAND BOOKSTORE
12th & Broadway
New York, NY [END]