The Society’s Museum Shop is currently featuring some artists’ books and products in honor of the Comic and Cartoon Art Annual (CCA), which began May on 3rd. The second of this three-part annual show began on June 14th. This show includes Special Formant, Comic Strip, and Long Form comics and cartoons.
Gold and Silver medals are awarded to top pieces displaying high-quality technique, a strong narrative, and an interesting composition. Medals winners will also receive the M. Prize, a financial award given in memory of Timothy Patrick Moynihan. Gold medalists will each receive $200 and silver medalists will receive $100. An Opening Reception and Awards Presentation for all medal winners will take place tonight, Friday, June 17th beginning at 6PM at the Society of Illustrators.
The displayed artwork has been carefully selected by prominent artists, publishers and editors. Some of the artists featured in our show have items on display in the Society’s Museum Shop.
Gregory Benton’s wordless book entitled B+F earned the MoCCA Award of Excellence in 2013 by the Society. Benton has been making comics since 1993 and his work has appeared in the New York Times, The Village Voice and Fortune. Another of his wordless books, Smoke (2015), as well as pins he has designed of characters featured in his stories are available at our shop. Through Benton’s wild illustrations, Smoke tells the story of two brothers and their typical day at an industrial tobacco farm.
A couple other new additions to the store include the books Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure and Eventually Everything Connects. Lost in NYC: A Subway Adventure is a children’s book written by Nadja Speigelman that tells the story of a boy named Pablo who gets lost on his first day in New York City because he took the wrong train. The illustrations are by Sergio García Sánchez, who is also featured in the CCA show. The book contains maps photos and facts about the city, which makes the book not only fun to read but even informative. The New York Times enthusiastically praises Spiegelman and Sánchez’s book; "García’s adroit art bursts with activity, while the story highlights the ingenuity city life brings out in the young. Packed with subway maps, lore and miscellany, it’s sure to be treasured by tweens and adults, too."
Eventually Everything Connects is a special format, accordion book by Loris Lora, yet another successful artist whose illustrations will be on display at the CCA. Unfold the four yards of beautiful pictures to discover the interconnectedness of the artists of the California modernist movement. Lora’s drawings illuminate the storyline of these artists’ lives. In the back of the hardcover you’ll find a word map detailing how these artists are all linked to each other. A Charles Eames’ quote wraps around the length of the folded diagram: “Eventually everything connects – people, ideas, objects… The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”
Artist Kevin Czapiewski (known as Kevin Czap) of Providence, Rhode Island has illustrations in the show. Czap’s “Froggy Perf” enamel pins can be purchased in the store as well. They are the perfect addition to your jean jacket or bland backpack!
To take a first had look at some of these beautiful books and products stop by the Society of Illustrators Museum Shop!
