A MUST-SEE: Craig Yoe’s Wonderful “Is THAT Art?!” Exhibit

We’re on Team Yoe here — so make sure you check out his brilliant Society of Illustrators show in NYC while you still can! You’ll thank me.

Craig Yoe and his lovely wife Clizia Gussoni are big favorites here at 13th Dimension‘s Secret Lair — and let me tell you, you have GOT to see their art collection.

Look at these names: Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Charles Schulz, Wally Wood, Rick Griffin, Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Harvey Kurtzman, Robert Crumb, Fletcher Hanks, Charles Addams. And almost 100 more.

Cripes.

Here’s just a sample, courtesy of photographer Alan Kaplan:

secret identity

Folks, that is a bona fide Joe Shuster Superman. Seeing it up close, as I have, actually takes your breath away.

Gorgeous stuff.

“I realize that I’ll probably never own an Action #1 comic book,” Craig said. “But I take some satisfaction that each piece of original art I have is a one-of-a-kind item that nobody else possesses. Bwaaa-hahahaha! I can enjoy it hanging in my studio and be personally inspired by it. Original comic art even has the DNA of the cartoonist on it—maybe science can take a Krazy Kat original and clone George Herriman so that the World’s Greatest Cartoonist can pen and ink more Krazy Kat comics!”

Here’s more:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Photo by Alan Kaplan

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Photo by Alan Kaplan

 

Now you better get your act together because the show ends 5/30 (UPDATED: Held over until 6/6!). The Society of Illustrators is at 128 East 63rd St. in Manhattan.

Says Craig:

“As a young comic fan I got my first piece of original comic art nearly 50 years ago in the mail because my aunt happened to go to high school in the minuscule town of Newton, Kansas, with EC Comics, Creepy and Eerie magazine artist Reed Crandall. The first one was free. Now that piece and many more of my favorite originals since procured, some free, some for very little and some for a lot of money, are in the “Is THAT Art?” exhibit.

Clizia, my wife, the mother of three of my children and my uber-talented publishing partner, and I love to share our collection of art through our many books about great known and unknown cartoonists. As stupendous as the printed page is (and, ok, Internet pixels) there’s nothing like seeing an original up close and personal. You can feel the artist’s hand, see the beginning pencil scratches, witness the sure, confident ink lines, not to mention the little mistakes the slightly-less-than-gods cartoonists whited out.”

He’s not kidding.

Go, man. Go!

Craig (right) with some dude named Crumb. Photo by Alan Kaplan.

Craig (right) with some dude named Crumb. Photo by Alan Kaplan.

For more info, check out the Society of Illustrators here.

Author: Dan Greenfield

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1 Comment

  1. Yoe is an amazing personality. I will probably miss seeing him at SDCC this summer. Could you convince him to do a commentary video with his cell phone of this display ? Stewie wilp not allow me to use his teleporter to get to NYC.

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