{"id":8525,"date":"2015-02-26T13:24:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T19:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=8525"},"modified":"2015-02-26T13:24:58","modified_gmt":"2015-02-26T19:24:58","slug":"pop-punk-travels-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/pop-punk-travels-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Pop punk travels the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Constantina Kokenes<\/p>\n

Superheroes, pop art and plagiarism comprise the traveling 2014-2015 exhibition \u201cErr\u00f3: American Comics\u201d on display at Mana Contemporary Chicago on 2233 South Throop Street in Pilsen. The exhibition hails from Mana Contemporary\u2019s 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 Err\u00f3\u2019s works. Err\u00f3, an Icelandic artist, uses American comics, pop culture and pop art in his 11 works created between\u00a01979 to 2009 to explore cultural and social contradictions.<\/p>\n

\"Err\u00f3<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\u201cTank Girl Saga A, Tank Girl Saga B\u201d is one of the first pieces visitors of the exhibit encounter. Err\u00f3 has been accused of plagiarizing several comic artists, according to Molly Feingold, director of programming and partnerships at Mana Contemporary. \u201cThose aren\u2019t his images. He\u2019s appropriating them,\u201d she said. Comic book artists Tom Artis, Ernie Colon and Brian Bolland are a few of many who have accused Err\u00f3 of plagiarism.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Err\u00f3<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Karyn Kruschka, 37, asks her 4-year-old son, Charlie, what he thinks of the piece. \u201cThis is a good introduction for someone of his age. \u201cIt\u2019s something he\u2019s kind of interested in,\u201d Kruschka said. Charlie shied away from the camera but told his mother he thought the pieces were \u201ccool.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Tankgirls<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Err\u00f3\u2019s \u201cTankgirls Day\u201d features characters from the British comic artsits Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin series \u201cTank Girl,\u201d 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\u2019s style.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Dark<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A young boy points at Dark Dream Scape\u201d, telling his mother to look at the painting. When she mentions that blue is his favorite color, he disagrees (it\u2019s red now) but still finds the piece interesting. \u201cDark Dream Scape\u201d is one of four in Err\u00f3\u2019s Scapes series. <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Crumb<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A layered collage of cartoonist Robert Crumb\u2019s work appears in Err\u00f3\u2019s \u201cCrumb Scape.\u201d According to Feingold, \u201cfor him, the layering of the comic images is kind of a representation of the Americanization of the world.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Excalibur"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
A couple study Err\u00f3\u2019s \u201cExcalibur\u201d saga. Excalibur is a group of superheroes, Juggernaut, Nightcrawler and Colossus among them, who mirror the X-Men of Marvel Comics. \u201cThere\u2019s so much going on in each [piece],\u201d said Matt Siber, 42, a featured artist at Mana Contemporary. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to just sit there and take it in. You have to really concentrate to experience one of these pieces.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Wonder<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Attorney Intaba Shauriand artist Tiffany Gholar, both 35, take in \u201cWonder Woman Saga.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s really dynamic and energetic and fun,\u201d Gholar said. A comic book fan since high school, Shauri, enjoyed Err\u00f3\u2019s take on comics and pop art. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen comic panels rendered at this scale or at this medium at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to see Wolverine painted that way.\u201d <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\""Silver<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Err\u00f3\u2019s \u201cSilver Sable Saga\u201d 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. Err\u00f3 attacks the typical misogynistic tone of many comic books by making females the prominent figures in many of his pieces. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Mana Contemporary Chicago houses dozens of artist spaces, exhibitions and classrooms for an array of disciplines, including performance pieces, photography, film and sound.<\/p>\n