No Straight Lines

No Straight Lines: Queer Culture & the Comics
Exhibit April 1 – June 25

Closing Reception June 22 from 7:00-9:00pm
Cartoon Art Museum

Info: www.cartoonart.org  415/227-8666 x. 314

Twenty cartoonists join forces at the Cartoon Art Museum for the first museum exhibition devoted entirely to LGBT comics.

Exhibition curator Justin Hall assembles some of today’s most influential and controversial cartoonists as they explore the remarkable diversity of queer culture and the comics. No Straight Lines features everything from homicidal lesbian terrorists to superheroine drag queens, coming-out stories to political commentaries, autobiographical rants to the most extreme flights of fancy and all points in between.

Exhibition curator Justin Hall

Hall has divided the exhibition thematically into two sections, “Life and Love” and “Culture and Politics”.  “Life and Love” focuses on the everyday realities of queer life in the modern world.  Featured artists in this section include Craig Bostick (Go-Go Girl), Paige Braddock (Jane’s World), Tim Fish (Cavalcade of Boys, Strugglers), Ellen Forney (Savage Love), Leanne Franson (Liliane, Bi-Dyke), David Kelly (Steven’s Comics, Boy Trouble), Robert Kirby (Curbside, Boy Trouble) and Ariel Schrag (Potential).  

The second category, “Culture and Politics,” explores queer culture and its ever-changing role in society.  This section features Jennifer Camper (Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, subGURLZ), Tristan Crane with Ted Naifeh (How Loathsome), Diane DiMassa (Hothead Paisan), Roberta Gregory (Bitchy Bitch), Justin Hall (Glamazonia, The Uncanny SuperTranny), Eric Orner (The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green),  Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) and David Wojnarowicz with James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook (Seven Miles a Second).

No Straight Lines also features individual spotlights on Alison Bechdel, creator of the nationally-syndicated strip Dykes to Watch Out For and Howard Cruse, creator of the series Wendel and the award-winning graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby.

The Cartoon Art Museum Opening Night Photos by Pamela Peniston

Visit the exhibition at The Cartoon Art Museum before coming to this closing reception and be sure to check out Alison Bechdel’s appearance in the festival on June 13!