DAHLOV IPCAR: 1917-2017

Word has come that the great children's book artist and writer Dahlov Ipcar has passed away, seven months short of her 100th birthday.

She was one of my favorite artists as a child. The cover of the forthcoming King-Cat #77 was drawn in tribute to her, and in working on it I pulled out some of the old Scholastic Books editions of her work that I’ve owned since I was a kid… I was surprised and delighted to see how big of an almost unconscious influence she’d had on my own work. I had no idea she was still alive while I was drawing it.

Tucker Stone of No Brow Books has shared the following remembrance (via Facebook and The Comics Journal), and posted a short video made a few years back in her studio. A treasure.

"A few years ago, pretty soon after I started at Nobrow, my friend Jason and I drove to Georgetown Maine and interviewed Dahlov Ipcar, who was 96 at the time, about her children’s books that we were getting ready to re-issue via Flying Eye. She was electric: 96 years old, living alone (it was her elderly son’s job to supply her with groceries), very direct, funny and acerbic as hell. I loved her. I wrote her letters afterwards (that was her preferred method of contact with me) whenever I had something of note to tell her about my work on her books, and I spoke to her a few times on the phone to set up some interviews and assist her with supplying books for events she would do at a local children’s hospital. She was always on top of it, and funny in a crusty, tough way that belied decades of commitment to craft and hardcore farmhouse living.

She just passed away, which was expected. I am sorry to her family for that, but I know how incredibly proud her sons were to work with her, and how much she loved and missed her husband, who passed away himself decades ago. Her life was lived as fully as one could dream of –a family she loved, and an art she devoted herself too. One of the first things that she told Jason and I when we arrived to make the attached video was that she had no interest in living to be 100 years old–as she put it, she was tired of spending so much of her morning going to the bathroom–and that was only the first of many things that made us laugh.

I just checked. Her 100th birthday would have been this November. Nice work, Dahlov."

 --Tucker Stone

Dahlov Ipcar from Nobrow Ltd on Vimeo.

Thank you Mrs. Ipcar.

 

AN EVENING WITH JOHN

I drove up to Green Bay yesterday (and back down) to see a retrospective exhibit of work by my old, dear friend John Rininger, who passed away in 2006.

John and I met in DeKalb in the mid-80's when I would print my zine Cehsoikoe at the Kinko's on Lucinda Avenue, where he worked.  We became fast friends, though I was always readily aware that John's mind was working on a scale much vaster than my own.  He seemed to be able to maintain a half-dozen trains of thought simultaneously, and his randomly dispensed references and quotations nearly always flew right over my head.  But in this way John's art was a mirror of his own mind.  In his art, high and low, good and evil, light and dark are each bestowed their own place without discrimination, commingling in a chaotic and confusing but ultimately beautiful scene to which John bore witness.

I've written about John on this blog before, but I thought I would share some photos and words about the exhibit.  It was held at the Lawton Gallery at UW-Green Bay, and curated by John's longtime friend and anointed archivist Stephen Perkins.

There was a nice turnout of students, plus old friends and family.

John worked mostly in xerographical media (photocopies) at first, and later used digital media to print and create his work.  His long-running series Catalyst Komics ran the gamut from "traditional" photocopied zines, to sculptures, ready-made objects, and one of a kind images such as the one above.

Students examine a collection of collaborative artists' books from the 1980's.

John's "magnum opus" was The Scroll, a 600 foot-long melange of over 1400 solvent-transferred images.

In 2001 as John was losing yet another apartment, Chicago collector Marc Fischer came upon a trove of his source materials dumped in the alleyway. (Story and more images here.)  Above: a sampling of some of these.

John was deeply involved in the underground "artistamp" scene, and his prized possession was an old-fashioned perforating machine, which he made available for public use one day per month.

Students examine several of John's artistamp pages.

One wall of the gallery was given over to John's zine-form work (he, and I, called them "mags", not zines, but you get the idea).

When NICE (Northern Illinois Copy Equipment) in DeKalb obtained a copier that could print in black plus blue, red, yellow, and brown toner, John found inspiration for this series of small-format collage zines.

A portion of The Scroll.

Curator Perkins had handcrafted rollers made to help exhibit the Scroll.

A student peruses an issue of John's collaborative zine project (with Tom Long and Gene White), Even Paranoiacs Can Have Enemies.

Some sculptural issues of Catalyst Komics included an epoxied mousetrap and a (simulated) pipe bomb.

Catalyst Komics #181

Stephen Perkins talks about John's life and work.

A portion of the Scroll.

More source material from John's personal collection.

In 1994, after an off-the-cuff suicidal joke he made to a therapist, John was forcibly institutionalized for a brief period, an experience that provided much fodder for his work.

Above three images: Some examples of Catalyst Komics zines.

At the end of the evening the scroll was ceremoniously unfurled for the audience.

In this world there are artists and there are artists.  John was the kind of artist where the line between his life and his work ran blurred, where compromise was never sought or accepted.  He was a remarkable guy, and seeing his work arrayed like this in one place was pretty emotional for me.  I'm glad I got to know him.

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MORE:

Xerolage 39

The Mousetrap-Shooter Incident

Video footage of The Scroll

AUGUST FUN-RAISER

Hey all, I'm trying to raise funds to publish the new King-Cat #73 in time for SPX (Mid-September) and to that end I've posted a bunch of photographs and drawings for sale on my Facebook page, and have discounted many prices on my available prints.

Take a look and let me know if there's anything I can get for you!  I'll be posting some images and stuff from the new issue here on the blog very soon.

Thanks everyone!
John P.

MADCHESTER

I'll have work included in an upcoming exhibit in Manchester UK, curated by the great Oliver East (Trains Are... Mint).  The show is called Not One For Knocking On 2, and will include some of my recent comics pages and photographs, alongside work from Derik Badman, Malcy Duff, and Frank Santoro.  The exhibit only runs from February 18 - 26, 2011, so if you're in the area, be sure to check it out!

Here's the info.

F***IN DORK / FUZZY BOX

FUCKIN DORK / FUZZY BOX is a set of 6 hand-pressed 9" x 12" (23cm x 30cm) lithographs (plus hand-pressed cover, same dimensions), printed on heavy weight, hand-torn Arches Rives paper, produced by John Porcellino in 1990, and assembled in a fleece-padded cardboard box in 2010. There is a signed and numbered edition of 20 copies, plus one Artist's Proof.

Materials include ink, permanent marker and spray paint on cardboard and paper, with fluorescent polyester fleece. One box also includes white duct-tape on the spine. All boxes include Artist's Statement on metallic gold card.

Prices includes shipping and handling (see below). These are first come, first served. Please write first to confirm availability: johnp_kingcat AT hotmail DOT com, or send me a Facebook message. Thank you!

John P.

(Click on images to enlarge...)

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Inside the Box:

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Alternate imagery:

Some of the boxes include variations, as noted below.

Some covers have faded text at the center, instead of pure white (non-printed) areas.  This was intentional.

Some copies of "Marigold" have the yellow layer (intentionally) printed 180 degrees off register.

Some copies of "Lighthearted Gold" have the title (intentionally) printed sideways.

(Boxes are assigned on a random basis)

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PRICES:

USA*:  $180 + $15 shipping/handling ($195.00 USD total**)
CANADA:  $180 + $15 shipping/handling + $7 PayPal fees ($202.00 USD total)
ALL OTHER COUNTRIES:  $180 + $23 shipping/handling + $7 PayPal fees ($210.00 USD total)

Please contact me first to confirm availability and to arrange payment!

johnp_kingcat AT hotmail DOT com
or send me a message on Facebook

*(US customers who would like USPS insurance, please add $2.75. Sorry-- insurance is not available on international shipments.)

**($195.00 check/mo, $200.00 via PayPal)

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE JOHN PORCELLINO LIFE DISASTER RELIEF FUND.

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"In 1985 I met a girl, and fell in love.  A few years later she fell in love.  Then she fell out of love, then she fell in love.  Then she fell out of love.  Afterwards, I spent a long time fucking up everything I could get my hands on.

In 1990 I made these prints.  I put them in a plastic bag from Dominick's Finer Foods.

{{many women, heartbreak, etc.}} 

In 2010 I met a girl, and we fell in love.  Then something happened, but I'm not sure what.  I didn't understand -- don't/do understand (what happened), perhaps don't want to understand, but mostly just -- --

I'm 42 years old.  I made these boxes, and now the plastic bag is empty.

John Porcellino

So. Beloit, IL

Dec. 30, 2010