We’re totally excited to announce a major art event happening soon in Chicago. On June 29th (and running until October 13th, 2013) the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago will present an exhibit titled, MODERN CARTOONIST: THE ART OF DANIEL CLOWES.

This major survey, the first museum retrospective of Daniel Clowes's work, presents more than 125 original drawings and artifacts in an elegant, inviting installation combining today's graphic style with shades of a Victorian parlor. A traveling exhibition that first appeared at the Oakland Museum of California Art (the city that Chicago-born Clowes now calls home) the show will be expanded significantly for its MCA Chicago presentation. So, if you’re a fan of this incredible artist then you will not want to miss this show!!

For more information, please CLICK HERE!

Here’s some wonderful news to share. Jennifer Doody, a Correspondent at the Harvard Gazette, recently wrote a very excellent article all about when Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd gave a lecture series at Harvard where they discussed their latest collaboration, the creation of the MAKE GOOD ART Speech Book.

While on stage they discussed other projects as well. Neil Gaiman spoke about his new novel, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," his scripts for the BBC's "Doctor Who," and a six-part miniseries of his "Sandman" comic. Chip Kidd touched briefly on his next new book he working on titled, “GO: A Kidd’s Guide To Graphic Design”. Due in October 2013 and to be published by Workman Publishing.

Overall the event went really well and a good time was had by all. We want to thank Jennifer for her wonderful article and we also wish to ask our readers to please check it out by clicking HERE!

We know that most of the time this website is fun and informative (we hope, ha ha), but this post is about a very serious issue. Currently, the New Jersey state legislature is considering a bill that would protect minors from the harmful, discredited practice of gay conversion therapy, which subjects teens to psychologically damaging "treatment" by so-called psychology counselors who falsely claim they can "fix" the sexual orientation of children who identify as being LGBT. At the time of this writing Governor Chris Christie, of new jersey, has not made any public statement about how he thinks about this issue. We need to send him a message. Please follow the LINK to CHANGE.ORG and sign the petition. Also, if you feel strongly about this issue then please share the link on Facebook, Twitter, etc… Thank You.

To Sign The Petition, Please CLICK HERE!

In the video down below we get to see the Book Trailer for “American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America”. This is the first book written by First Lady Michelle Obama (Published by Crown Publishing) and it is enjoying a lot of great reviews. Good for her! We’re sure this book is inspiring many Americans to start their own vegetable gardens and it might even inspire YOU! (As a side note, we should mention that this book cover was not designed by Chip. It’s just a really great book we wanted to share).

For the Official AMERICAN GROWN Website please CLICK HERE!

You can also join the AMERICAN GROWN Facebook Page by clicking HERE!

Sylvia Beach (1887-1962) founded the English language Bookstore ‘Shakespeare and Company’ in Paris back in 1919 and it became a meeting place of so many world-renowned artists and writers.

In the video down below we get to see and hear Sylvia Beach as she was interviewed in the 1950s about her relationship with James Joyce and publishing ‘Ulysses’. She also talks about her friendship with Ernest Hemingway. The cool thing, is that this world famous store is still open today and they even have a new WEBSITE!

if you would like to learn more about the history of this famous place, just CLICK HERE.

One of the functions of this website is to showcase the work of Book Cover Designer Chip Kidd. So, we created a GALLERY PAGE to do just that. If you go there (just click the “Gallery” TAB Button up above), then you need to scroll down because all the new ones we recently posted are on Page Two. Just click the “Next Page” button at the bottom of Page One. Am I making this all to confusing? Sorry, ha ha!

HEY! This is More Easy To Do, Just Please CLICK HERE!

Thursday, June 27, 2013
8:00pm (Reception 6:30-7:30pm)

An Evening with Neil Gaiman
in conversation with Entertainment Weekly's Geoff Boucher
discussing his new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Alex Theatre
216 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203

PURHASE TICKETS
$42 General Admission (includes Gaiman's new novel)
$55 Includes Reserved Seating* + Gaiman's new novel
**$105 includes Premier reserved seating* + Pre-event reception + two Gaiman books (new novel & Make Good Art)
NOTE: THE $55 RESERVED SEATING AND $105 RECEPTION TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT.
For ticket information, click here!

Here’s a fun picture we sort of randomly came across on Facebook. This photo was taken by the LIBERTY BAY BOOKS Bookstore (Poulsbo, WA) at the recent 2013 Book Expo America event. It shows Chip Kidd signing a Promotional Poster for his new book coming out in October titled, “Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design”. They plan to hang the poster in their store… that’s cool!

Once we get some clearance on sharing this poster on the website, we will post it. Please stay tuned for that!

Last March (2013) Chip Kidd was invited to appear at the Tokyo International Literary Festival in Japan. He was interviewed by the Japanese website, NIPPON. Their tagline is “Your Doorway To Japan”, and that’s pretty cool! The interview can be read by clicking HERE!

While there, Chip Kidd participated in a lecture Series where he explained his thoughts on “Book Cover Design”, his early love of Japanese Pop Culture, Designing Tezuka Osamu's Buddha for Vertical, Unearthing the Japanese Batman Bat-Manga, and also his thoughts on the Author Murakami Haruki and the Future of Book Design.

The overall experience of being back in Japan was sort of overwhelming. I mean, it’s such a beautiful place that you just never NEVER want to leave and it’s always sad to do so. Japan is completely beautiful.

CHARLES BURNS

COVER PORTRAITS FOR THE BELIEVER 2003-2013

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BEFORE & AFTER PORTRAITS FROM BLACK HOLE

MAY 30 - JULY 26, 2013

Adam Baumgold Gallery presents an exhibition of portraits by Charles Burns that were published on the cover of The Believer magazine between 2003 and 2013. Using ink on paper in a strict 6 by 6 inch format, Burns creates endless variations of texture, lighting, and composition. His stark, black line offers a distinctive take on the tradition of portrait drawing. Over 300 drawings of artists, writers, musicians, animals, comic characters, and historical figures will be included.

Alongside this vast series of Believer portraits is a group of Before & After drawings from Charles Burns's seminal graphic novel Black Hole. In these comic grotesque portraits, themes of adolescent alienation and sexual awakening mingle with imagery of mutation, disease, and violence. Each smiling, yearbook-style portrait is accompanied by a Dorian Gray-like counterpart, picturing the same teenager with some troubling facial alteration.

Charles Burns’s drawings first reached a wider audience through the legendary comics magazine Raw in the 1980s. His graphic novel classic Black Hole, 2005 received the Harvey award. Other earlier cult classics by Burns include El Borbah, Big Baby, and Skin Deep, among others. Burns's drawings have appeared on the covers and in the pages of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and many other publications, as well as on the album covers of Iggy Pop and others. His work was the subject of a solo exhibition Charles Burns at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum, and was included in the exhibition Disparities and Deformations: Our Grotesque at the SITE Santa Fe Biennial 2004 curated by Robert Storr. Burns's forthcoming graphic novel Sugar Skull (Pantheon, 2014) will complete the trilogy of books that include X'ed Out and The Hive-a dreamlike narrative and homage to Tintin and other art that Burns admires. A retrospective of Charles Burns work was exhibited at Museum M in Leuven, Belgium in 2011-2012. Charles Burns lives and works in Philadelphia.

Gallery hours are Tues. through Sat. 11:00 - 5:30 P.M through June, and Tues. - Fri. during July. A preview of the exhibition can be seen by clicking RIGHT HERE! When you get there, click on “Exhibition Schedule” on the top left-hand side of the page. Also, their website shows all the art work at the event and there is way too much to show here. In fact, we sort of limited what we are showing here as “Portraits of Book Authors”, but there are many Movie Actors and other celebrities, a HUGE variety!

Daniel Clowes

David Sedaris

Orhan Pamuk

Jennifer Egan

Gary Panter

Salman Rushdie

Zadie Smith

Steve Martin

Frank Herbert