KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art

Attention, Vancouver comics fans:


The Vancouver Art Gallery is opening a new exhibiton next week that focuses on comics, animation and video games. Each section is curated by specialists in its domain, with comics curated by Art Spiegelman and D+Q's Seth. The entire exhibition loosely revolves around George Herriman's "Krazy Kat" and its influence, and features works ranging from Herriman and Winsor McCay cartoons to contemporary video game stills.





The VAG describes the show as "the first exhibition of its kind, a groundbreaking project that offers unique and dynamic insight into the world of comics,animated cartoons, anime, manga, graphic novels, computer/video games and visual art," but it seems to me that collecting so many disparate elements of popular culture and showing them as a unified body is problematic. As this article in the Georgia Straight puts it, "Seth admits feeling some ambivalence about the idea of his time-tested, beloved Krazy Kat rubbing figurative shoulders with the commercially based newbie Pac-Man."

I mean, come on! Pac-Man and Krazy Kat?! That's pushing it.

I will, however, say that Art Spiegelman and Seth's choices for the comics section (Lynda Barry, Harvey Kurtzman, Jerry Moriarty, Justin Green) sound like they will make the entire exhibit worthwhile!

Krazy! opens on May 17th and runs until the 7th of September.

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