Pop punk travels the world

Arts & Culture, Winter 2015

February 26, 2015

by Constantina Kokenes

Superheroes, pop art and plagiarism comprise the traveling 2014-2015 exhibition “Erró: American Comics” on display at Mana Contemporary Chicago on 2233 South Throop Street in Pilsen. The exhibition hails from Mana Contemporary’s New Jersey gallery in Jersey City, and the pieces were given to Mana Contemporary from Galerie Ernst Hilger, an art museum in Austria that features many of Erró’s works. Erró, an Icelandic artist, uses American comics, pop culture and pop art in his 11 works created between 1979 to 2009 to explore cultural and social contradictions.

“Tank Girl Saga A, Tank Girl Saga B” is one of the first pieces visitors of the exhibit encounter. Erró has been accused of plagiarizing several comic artists, according to Molly Feingold, director of programming and partnerships at Mana Contemporary. “Those aren’t his images. He’s appropriating them,” she said. Comic book artists Tom Artis, Ernie Colon and Brian Bolland are a few of many who have accused Erró of plagiarism.

Karyn Kruschka, 37, asks her 4-year-old son, Charlie, what he thinks of the piece. “This is a good introduction for someone of his age. “It’s something he’s kind of interested in,” Kruschka said. Charlie shied away from the camera but told his mother he thought the pieces were “cool.”

Erró’s “Tankgirls Day” features characters from the British comic artsits Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin series “Tank Girl,” with Tank Girl herself front and center. Tank Girl, who lives in and drives a tank, eventually is declared an outlaw for her sexual inclinations and substance abuse. The saga follows her adventures and her mutant kangaroo boyfriend, Booga. Punk visual art influenced the original comic’s style.

A young boy points at Dark Dream Scape”, telling his mother to look at the painting. When she mentions that blue is his favorite color, he disagrees (it’s red now) but still finds the piece interesting. “Dark Dream Scape” is one of four in Erró’s Scapes series.

A layered collage of cartoonist Robert Crumb’s work appears in Erró’s “Crumb Scape.” According to Feingold, “for him, the layering of the comic images is kind of a representation of the Americanization of the world.”

A couple study Erró’s “Excalibur” saga. Excalibur is a group of superheroes, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler and Colossus among them, who mirror the X-Men of Marvel Comics. “There’s so much going on in each [piece],” said Matt Siber, 42, a featured artist at Mana Contemporary. “It’s very hard to just sit there and take it in. You have to really concentrate to experience one of these pieces.”

Attorney Intaba Shauriand artist Tiffany Gholar, both 35, take in “Wonder Woman Saga.” “It’s really dynamic and energetic and fun,” Gholar said. A comic book fan since high school, Shauri, enjoyed Erró’s take on comics and pop art. “I’ve never seen comic panels rendered at this scale or at this medium at all,” he said. “It’s fun to see Wolverine painted that way.”

Erró’s “Silver Sable Saga” is based on a Marvel Comics heroine, a female mercenary who hunts war criminals and also manages to be the CEO of an international organization. Erró attacks the typical misogynistic tone of many comic books by making females the prominent figures in many of his pieces.

Mana Contemporary Chicago houses dozens of artist spaces, exhibitions and classrooms for an array of disciplines, including performance pieces, photography, film and sound.

“Erró: American Comics” will run at Mana Contemporary in Pilsen through April 30.

Photo at top: A group looks at Erró’s “Wonder Woman Saga” in the exhibition “Erró: American Comics,” which runs through April 30. (Constantina Kokenes/Medill)