Tag Archives: James Romberger

The Outsiders Compass Series and Film.

The Outsiders Compass is the first in a series that appeared in a show at The Proposition Gallery along with my film, “Funky Shui in New York.” Please Art in America Review at the bottom of the page.

Morpheus Loves Persephone,  print 48×36.

Golden boyNectar for the Golden Boy 36X48

Rosetta, 24X36

Keats 36X48

The Glasswhistlers EmbarkationThe Glass Whistlers Embarkation 36×48

outsiders compass at Harvard

Lateral Dommages at Harvard Business School Collection

 At Max Fish

VanCookmaxfish2004

 April 2004 Art In America

Marguerite Van Cook at The Proposition

Marguerite Van Cook is a New York artist who worked with DC Comics and formerly ran the Lower East Side gallery Ground Zero with her husband, James Romberger. Van Cook began work on the video Funky Shui in New York (2003) with the notion that she would travel through New York and improve the city’s energy potential through the Chinese practice of environmental correction known as feng shui. According to its practitioners, feng shui involves an understanding of geographic orientation and electromagnetic energy in the balancing of opposites and the releasing of blocked energy. Van Cook writes that she came to realize that improving the universe was an improbable task, and so begins this 8-minute video projection by acknowledging in on-screen text, “Some things are best left alone,” punctuated with the track of a percussive base line. Van Cook constructs a filmic ritual, viewed in jump cuts and montage, that incorporates images associated with feng shui, beginning with a vat of living frogs—in China, traditionally linked to wealth—moving in undulations of acidic purple- green water. In close-up, a woman (the artist) appears, costumed in headscarf, lipstick and sunglasses. Next comes imagery of a small courtyard of brick and stone and a narrow passageway, the sort of corridor associated in feng shui with the escalation of energy. The frogs appear again, and daffodils fill the screen. A figure veiled in white goes by. In the courtyard, the woman rocks in a folding chair, head thrown back, mouth stretched wide. A boy faces into a corner, then out, as though spinning. There is a jump cut to the bared back of a kneeling figure, the back gracefully inscribed with an ancient text concerning harmony and rulers. There are cuts to the veiled figure and flowers and to a nude man in carnival mask. The woman walks down Orchard Street, or somewhere similar, inspecting merchandise on the sidewalk. Through the legerdemain of digital editing, a postcard like still of the masked man recedes into the distance, falling away from a close-up of tulips, and then the man sits on a couch. And so it goes. In a text accompanying this exhibition, Van Cook describes her fascination with still images derived from film. For her, these moments exhibit a quality that surpasses the power of ordinary photographs. With that in mind, she intended Funky Shui as a source for the creation of such images. In an adjacent room, the artist installed four chromogenic color prints that are composites constructed of such frame grabs. These iconic images formally recall not only their immediate source but the work of generations of avant-garde filmmakers, from Bunuel and Dali to Jack Smith, shifting away from the confines of narrative to build structures made of dreams. —Edward Leffingwell

“7 Miles a Second” by David Wojnarowicz, James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook.

 

7 Miles a Second“7 Miles a Second’,  a collaborative project, is finally presented as it was intended with additional pages and the color restored from it’s watercolor originals.

A new soft cover edition is available from Ground Zero Books.

Buy it now:

https://groundzerobooks.com/

“7 Miles a Second” has been getting a good response, particularly gratifying is its arrival at number 5 on the New York Times Best Sellers Hardcover Graphic Book List

Articles and Press for “7 Miles a Second” :

New York Times Art Beat has a short but welcome commentary.

Band of Thebes Wojnarowicz Life Story in Graphic Memoir ‘7 Miles a Second’

 X-TRA Escape Velocity by Glen Harcourt

Slate Book Review High Brow Trash by Noah Berlatsky

Sorry, Katari  7 Miles a Second by Katari Sporrong

Hyperallergic Inside David Wojnarowicz’s Comic Book by Jillian Steinhauer

Artforum James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook by Nicole Rudick

News 1.  The Book Reader by Dan Kois -State

L’Accoudoir   Spirale et 7 Miles a Second by Mikaël Demets (French text).

Post York by James Romberger and Crosby Updates: Nominated for an Eisner Award

post-york-cover

Exiting News & Congratulations to them:

Post York is a 2013 Eisner Award nominee, Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)

Here are links to some of the great press the project has received and information about their performances and presentations :


“‘Post York’…offers a vision of a very changed city where life can be cruel and tenuous but also offers infinite possibilities of joys and transcendence.”
-Alex Dueben, Comic Book Resources
“….an interesting and even brave approach to storytelling….”
-Rob Clough, High-Lowhttp://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2013/02/bleak-futures-pickrodt-romberger-ward.html

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“…the seemingly effortless, skritch-scratchy hand of Romberger makes (Post York) appear alive and hauntingly beautiful. His kinetic brush strokes and heavy use of black recall both Kirby and classic adventure comics….Crosby’s music adds to the narrative and feeling….”
-Jess Worby, The Rumpus

http://therumpus.net/2013/03/the-new-york-comics-symposium-james-romberger-and-crosby/

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“…one of the best small press books I read this year. Post York is an utterly recommendable work. Grade A.”
-Justin Giampaoli, Thirteen Minutes

http://www.thirteenminutes.blogspot.com/2013/02/post-york-state-of-mind.html#links

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“(Romberger’s) stark black and white drawings render the future with bleakness that’s strangely coupled with a scrappy quality that exudes a sense of discovery…(Crosby’s) flexi-disc…serves as both a prelude and soundtrack that heightens the reading experience and adds an audio urgency to the story.”
-John Seven, Grawlix and Briffits

http://blogs.thetranscript.com/arts/2013/03/14/grawlix-and-briffits-2/

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The slide show and Crosby’s live performance of Post York have so far played at:

Desert Island, Brooklyn (12/07/2012):
http://www.desertislandbrooklyn.com/

The Moon, Union Pool, Brooklyn (12/21/2012):
http://themoonshow.tumblr.com/

Ben Katchor’s New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium, Parson’s/The New School (1/25/2013):
http://nycomicssymposium.wordpress.com/

Bob Sikoryak’s Carousel, Dixon Place, NYC (04/10/2013):
http://carouselslideshow.com/

ABOUT THE BOOK AND MUSIC:

Post York, a beautiful graphic novel by James Romberger together with ideas and music with Crosby  offered in the form of a flexi disc in the back seam of the book , and available for free download online, are available from Uncivilized Press. (And in the spirit of full disclosure it is the work of  my husband and my son.)

Post York
Art & Story by James Romberger
Music by Crosby

$9, 40 pages, perfect bound, 8×11 inches

includes Flexi Disc by Crosby
Post York is a multimedia project that takes the form of a comic book with a musical flexidisc attached. The story is set in New York City after the polar ice caps melt. A young man navigates the flooded city, looking for something, anything, anyone…to start again.

The comic book by James Romberger takes a postmodern turn as it uses improvisatory cinematic techniques to make the reader a focus group for a pair of alternative endings. The song by Crosby extends the story into another medium to add deeper emotional resonance.

Flexi disc

James Romberger’s acclaimed graphic novels include 7 Miles a Second (a new edition is due in December 2012 from Fantagraphics) with legendary artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz and artist and punk diva Marguerite Van Cook, and Aaron and Ahmed (DC/Vertigo, 2010), with Guggenhiem fellow Jay Cantor. The main character of Post York is modeled on James’ son Crosby, the MC behind Hip Hop Howl of SXSW fame and a prolific designer for Swizz Beatz. Crosby provides the back cover collage as well as the song on the flexidisc, which features production by Kidde and also a special appearance by singer Jordan Lane.

Music and comics meet as two generations of artists come together to propel a moving vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Step aboard and try to stay dry.

Praise for James Romberger:

“In the highest horror-comics tradition.”—The New York Times

“As sweet and perfect as an Old Master, but with a contemporary edge that sends shivers up your spine. Romberger makes his world come alive.”—Walter Robinson, critic for Art in America and Artnet

“Romberger’s art is a fine version of bony realism – his figures are so casually realistic, you can almost see the joints moving.”—Entertainment Weekly

Praise for Crosby:

“Real talent.”—Swizz Beatz

“MC who has rocked with anyone and everyone to ever touch the Bowery.”—URB Magazine

“Crosby’s unique musical lane, thoughtful and experimental.”—Birthplace Magazine

At  The Moon Show, Crosby performed in front of a slide show from the book. The effect was stunning as Crosby did his inimitable thing.Crosby Performs in front of Post York Image_b

An Interview with me and James Romberger by Grace Bello at Publishers Weekly about upcoming rerelease of 7 Miles A Second

Romberger & Van Cook by Romberger Art / Color Van CookThis article came out today in Publishers Weekly.  It will appear in both the hard copy and the online copy.
It discusses the process and publication of the re-release of Seven Miles a Second, a collaborative effort to realize David Wojnarowicz’ graphic memoir. As the article points out, much time has passed since we began this work. It is great to see “Seven Miles a Second” come out in the way that it was intended. For that we thank the great team at Fantagraphics who let us have it our way.

 Remembering David : A Graphic Tribute: James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook