We have a strong,
almost scary affinity for comics - good. imaginative, well-drawn
comics - and we're fond of art as well. So when we heard that
publisher Max Hopper commissioned local artists Jim Hall and
David Bromley to redraw the comic strip Art in Shambles for
an exhibit, we were thrilled. The circa 1990 local strip began
as a comic book starring real-life artists recreated as fictional
characters. It soon morphed into a biweekly strip (with appearances
in Throttle, Articulate and Punchline) upon the entrance of
Bubba, Pablo Picasso's illegitimate son, into the mix of well-known
artists like Basquiat ("Raphael X"), Willem de Kooning ("Duke
Kooning") and Walter Keane (as himself). Hall and Bromley
have redone the first eighteen strips, which will hang alongside
never-been-shown paintings of Bubba. On its Tenth Anniversary,
Richmond welcomes the revival of its comic baby Art In
Shambles, proof positive that comics are indeed an art
form. - Lesley Howson
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