@’s by Artist David Mack!!!
Hey folks, Ambush Bug here with another interview from thie year’s San Diego Comic Con. This is one I did right after the con with artist/writer David Mack. I met David on thee con floor and we talked about his upcoming art show happening the week after the con. David agreed to answer a few questions about it after the opening, as well as catch us up on any DAREDEVIL and KABUKI news he might have.AMBUSH BUG (BUG): So you recently had a gallery opening. How did it go?
DM: It went very well. The recent gallery opening was at the Century Guild gallery in Los Angeles. It features my work exhibited with works of Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Toulous-Lautrec and paintings by Dave McKean. Last month I had an exhibit in Chicago at the Century Guild gallery there, also with Gustav Klimte & Schiele, but it was completely different works of theirs and mine.
BUG: Is there a theme to this art show? DM: Most of the works are figures. The majority of my figure work is done in brush and ink and are drawings from life. But there are also works in pencil, graphite and watercolor. The figures from life are mostly humans, but some cats. The works of Klimt and Schiele and Toulous-Lautrec are also figures, and I think the gallery director felt like my figure studies had a relation to the figure studies of Schiele & Klimt.
BUG: Are these new pieces or from different times in your career?
DM: Most of these are from this year, and some are very new, and many of them are drawings from the last couple years as well. BUG: Upon doing an art show, do you approach your work differently than if it is something for comics?
DM: When making any images for comics they are all in the service of the story, so in a sense the art I make for a comic book that I'm writing is another tool of the writing. Each image in comics is about how it relates to the next image and contrasts it, and how it communicates something from the characters and the overall story.
Outside of comics, I do a certain amount of drawings from life every week, just for my own practice and enjoyment without any preconcieved ideas of how those drawings fit into something larger than them. It is more of a process exercise, and these are mostly drawn directly in ink with a brush. So this show collects some of those drawings that were made without any intention for them to be a part of something other than what they came from the practice of drawing the person in front of me. BUG: What do you think the overall attitude is regarding comics from the art world's perspective, and how much to you agree or disagree with that?
DM: Probably the majority of the people seeing my work in this show are not familiar with my work in comics, so it is a new access point for them to see things from. I think in general, at the higher level, the worlds do not intersect that much. But then there are interesting intesections of the worlds where some interesting things happen. I don't think I could speak for one world or another in terms of how they view the other. BUG: What's the toughest thing about doing an art show like this?
DM: It has been interesting to see which of my pieces are selected for this. The gallery had seen some of the weekly figure drawings that I post on my Facebook page and asked me to bring them in. So I brought quite a bit in, and the gallery director said it was difficult for him to narrow down which ones to show. I had a wealth of them over the years, but we wanted to show some of our favorites. Some that contrast, but also have a relation to the rest of the show. BUG: What's your next comic book project going to be?
DM: Brian Michael Bendis and I are making a brand new creator-owned project together.
BUG: Any plans at another DAREDEVIL arc or miniseries? DM: DAREDEVIL: END OF DAYS that we wrote together is now #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List of Graphic Books. We had such a great time working on that with Bill Sienkiewicz and Klaus Janson that we are now talking about doing a follow-up with that story. All the same creative team, Brian & I writing, with Bill & Klaus & I on art, all working on the world and characters that we built in that story…all those Daredevil characters, with the Punisher as the likely central figure in the follow up story.
BUG: What's the latest on KABUKI, and when will we be seeing her again?
DM: Next year is the 20th anniversary of KABUKI, so I'm working on some surprises on that front. I have some books planned for that, and have been working behind the scenes with some wonderful people to bring it to the screen. BUG: How long is this art show going to be open, and where can folks go to see it?
DM: Just go to centuryguild.net. You can contact them to view the exhibit any day in the week, and they also have certain works of mine available to look at online.
BUG: Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions.
DM: Thank you very much!
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole/wordslinger/writer of wrongs/reviewer/interviewer/editor of AICN COMICS for over 12 years & AICN HORROR for 3. He has written comics such as VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS THE TINGLERS & WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE DEATHSPORT GAMES, & NANNY & HANK (soon to be made into a feature film from Uptown 6 Films). He has co-written FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND’s LUNA: ORDER OF THE WEREWOLF (to be released in October 2013 as a 100-pg original graphic novel through Hermes Press). Mark wrote the critically acclaimed GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK from Zenescope Entertainment & GRIMM FAIRY TALES #76-81. Look for GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK: LAST OF THE SPECIES available in February-July 2013 and the new UNLEASHED crossover miniseries GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS WEREWOLVES: THE HUNGER #1-3 available in May-July 2013! Follow Ambush Bug on the Twitter @Mark_L_Miller.Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
