2011 Arts & Culture Conference
Politics and the Graphic Image

Co-founders of one of the most popular alternative political comics and graphics magazines ever printed, World War 3 Illustrated, are bringing three decades of artistic social commentary  to local galleries in Grand Forks from their home base in New York City throughout the month of October. The exhibit is currently on display at the Col. Eugene E. Meyers (UND Campus) Gallery and The Third Street Gallery (downtown Grand Forks).

The exhibit, “Graphic Radicals: 30 Years of World War 3 Illustrated,” features highlights from the independent political cartooning magazine, which was launched by artistic activists and lifelong friends Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman in 1979-1980 as an anti-establishment response to social problems of the day. The exhibit includes original artwork about global and hyper-local events that artists have scrutinized, documented and participated in such as the Iran-Contra affair, Tomkins Square Riot, Gulf War, genocide in the Balkins, 9/11, the War on Terrorism and Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

he exhibit features paintings, comics, murals, film, animation and drawings from 40 artists that contributed to World War 3 Illustrated.  Among the artists represented in the exhibition are Jones, Art Speigelman, Sue Coe, Eric Drooker, Mac McGill, Keven Pyle, Rebecca Migdal, James Romberg and Marguerite Van Cook. There are more than 150 works of art included in the exhibition; the work is presented in a thematic, chronological manner.

A panel discussion, featuring Kuper, Tobocman and fellow World War 3 Illustrated veteran Sabrina Jones, will be held at 3p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25, in the River Valley Room of the UND Memorial Union.  The panel is part of the “2011 Arts& Culture Conference” that also will be in held in Grand Forks. The theme for this year’s conference is “Politics and the Graphic Image.” Kuper is probably best known for his artistic work that has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and MAD magazine, in which he illustrates Spy vs. Spy every month. He’s also a writer who was featured at the 2008 UND Writers Conference.
 

Tuesday, October 25
Seth Tobocman - Artist's Lecture
9:30am, Hughes Fine Arts Center Room 227

Sabrina Jones - Artist's Lecture
12:30pm, Gillette Hall Room 303

WW3 Panel featuring Peter Kuper, Seth Tobocman and Sabrina Jones
3:00pm, UND Memorial Union, River Valley Room

Wednesday, October 26
Peter Kuper - Artist Lecture
11:30am - Hughes Fine Arts Center Room 227

2002 Pulitzer Prize Winning Cartoonist Clay Bennet In Conversation,
3:00pm, Hughes Fine Arts Center
Josephine Campbell Recital Hall

This project is supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the University of North Dakota's Department of Art and Design, the Communication Program, the College of Arts & Sciences, the Office of the Provost and the Myers Foundations. Graphi Radicals is an exhibition produced by Exit Art, New York, NY. It was curated by Peter Kuper, Seth Tobocman and Susan Willmarth and presented at Exit Art from December 7, 2010 to February 5, 2011.