Also this issue: Cloaking Devices Susan Fenton and Anne Seidman create revealing work that plays hard to get. -Robin Rice Paradise Redefined -Susan Hagen First Friday Focus Politics Unusual -A.D. Amorosi Becoming: Shakespeare -Debra Auspitz The Outside In -Sam Adams Anatomy Lessons -Meredith Broussard The (Un)Beat(en) Generation -Paul Burress

October 3- 9, 2002

artpicks

All-Ages Art

by Sam Adams

Art Spiegelman spent a long time convincing people that comics -- or, as he insisted, "comix" -- could handle adult themes, but he's always been aware of their ability to please youngsters as well -- while he was working on Maus, he was helping to create Wacky Packages and Garbage Pail Kids. (My seventh grade reading teacher was particularly incensed by "Rotten Rita.") "Not Just for Grown-Ups Anymore," on exhibit through Nov. 24, highlights Spiegelman's work for the preteen set. Included are drawings from Spiegelman's trading-card days, tributes to Harvey Kurtzman (Mad) and Charles Schulz (Peanuts) and the original, much darker version of the charming Open Me... I am a Dog, drawn nearly 30 years before its late-'90s publication, when Spiegelman was recovering from a nervous breakdown. Of particular note is work from Spiegelman and wife Françoise Mouly's Little Lit, the two-volume (with a third on the way) anthology of G-rated work from familiar RAW contributors like Chris Ware, Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns. While the artists don't tone down their approach -- Burns' stuff is still creepy as hell -- they take advantage of the opportunity to turn down hitherto unexplored artistic alleys, as does Spiegelman with his illustrated version of an old Jewish proverb (which, among other places, turns up in the new Werner Herzog movie). We hasten to add that, although this stuff may not be "just" for grown-ups, they'll get a kick out of it just like the small fry.

Art Spiegelman, “Not Just for Grown-Ups Anymore,” through Nov. 24, Borowsky Gallery, Gershman Y, Broad and Pine sts., 215-446-3027.