Karl Wirsum, as part of the Hairy Who group in the early 1960s developed a style that combines a graphic sensibility--vivid, flat colors, simplified cartoon-like figures--with a sense of humor evident in the works themselves and also in titles that second guess and play with words. Wirsum's imaginary creatures and super hero characters enact bizarre scenes. Figures from outer space perform domestic tasks such as mowing the lawn; space men happily orbit starry objects. His work exists in the buffer zone between real and imaginary, mundane domesticity and super hero powers, day-to-day existence and daydreams. Wirsum currently lives in Chicago and is an Adjunct Professor in Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Selected Exhibitions

Goddesses ex Machina: Techno Art Perspectives, Merlino Gallery, California State University, Long Beach, CA, September 26-October 2, 2003

CG03: Computer Graphics 2003, SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, San Diego, CA, July 27-31, 2003

(art)n Virtual Visions, Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, October 29, 2002 - January 5, 2003


Selected Publications

SIGGRAPH 2003 Electronic Art and Animation Catalog. The Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. New York, New York.

References

Warren, Lynne (1996). Art in Chicago: 1945-1995. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois.

Gallery Representation

Jean Albano Gallery