The renowned comics artist has co-curated an exhibition featuring indie and mainstream contemporary Black comics artists
The Society of Illustrators, one of New York’s premier venues for showcasing the history and art of illustration, has a new exhibition on view through October, celebrating Black comic-book artists. Titled “The Artist’s Experience: From Brotherman to Batman,” the show was curated by comics journalist and writer Karama Horne and Eisner Award-nominated comics artist and writer Shawn Martinbrough (BFA 1993 Illustration), known for his book How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling (Watson-Guptill, 2007), and series like Thief of Thieves, Red Hood and more.
“The Artist’s Experience” celebrates some of the top Black artists in the industry, including Dawud Anyabwile, Darryl Banks, Eric Battle, Chuck Collins, Denys Cowan, Sanford Greene, Micheline Hess, SVA faculty Jamal Igle and Alitha Martinez, John Jennings, Khary Randolph, Afua Richardson, Damion Scott, Robyn Smith, Larry Stroman, Marcus Williams and Ronald Wimberly.
Martinbrough recently took some time to answer a few questions about the exhibition.
How did you get involved in creating “The Artist’s Experience”?
After my first solo exhibit for The Society of Illustrators, I suggested the idea of creating an exhibit to feature more comic-book artists and, specifically, Black comic artists. The Society was very receptive and invited me to curate an exhibit.
I reached out to my friend Karama Horne to see if she would be interested and available to curate it with me. Together we developed the concept of “The Artist’s Experience,” which would not only feature top Black comic-book artists but also provide an exclusive look into their creative processes.
Once involved, what were your intentions, aims and creative input?
It was a total collaboration between Karama and me.
My original idea—of an exhibit showcasing Black comic book artists who worked for mainstream publishers, along with independent and self-published creators—expanded to a more interview-based approach. Together, Karama and I interviewed and formatted each artist’s creative process into a display with their art. Initially, we planned to film sit-down interviews with each artist, but due to COVID restrictions and scheduling, we just couldn’t manage that component for this show.
Are some of these artists potentially overlooked in your mind?
Definitely.
In my experience, Black comic-book artists tend to be overlooked with regard to traditional museum and gallery exhibitions, which is unfortunate considering how influential comic-book art is. These mega-successful superhero blockbusters that folks stream and which generate billions of dollars at the box office are all built on visual source material created by comic-book artists, many of them African Americans and people of color. For our exhibit, each featured artist has their own fan base, but showcasing them all together is a great way to cross-pollinate and introduce new viewers to everyone’s work.
What do you guys hope to achieve with this exhibition?
As an artist, I’m always asked by fans, colleagues, aspiring artists, etc., about my creative process. “The Artist’s Experience: From Brotherman to Batman” is the perfect opportunity to demystify the lifestyle of an artist and provide insight into their artistic challenges, daily schedules and what inspires them about their craft. Hopefully, this will be the first in a series of exhibitions that will allow us to feature more talented Black comics artists and explore different subjects and aspects of “the artist’s experience.
“The Artist’s Experience: From Brotherman to Batman” is on view now through October 29 at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd Street.
