Graphic Details

     The Graphic Details show at the Yeshiva University Museum is a show of female Jewish comic-book writers.  The original drawings are on display, which allows you too see them at a much larger scale than in a book.  The words "underground" and "confessional" are used freely in the accompanying text, which I don't disagree with, but it made me feel out of context as someone who reads underground and confessional comics almost exclusively.  My whole comic-world is underground and confessional, and since we're talking about women, you can add "transgressive" to that list.  In the world of comic-fans, everyone is entitled to their own little brand of selfishness, which is as it should be, right?  I never felt any duty to expose myself to and become well-read in the super-hero or anime genres, for example.  Somehow the ignorance that I possess does not carry with it the guilt of an art-lover that refuses to look at 17th century Dutch painting just because they "don't like it."


     Now that I think of it, the only time I've ever heard or had to use the word "underground," has been in the situation of trying to talk to someone who asks, "So, what kinds of comic do you like?"  Is anything actually underground these days?  I would argue for a new word to replace "underground" which has been in use since the 60's (or before) and really doesn't apply anymore.  It's not the status that requires a definition, but the style.  I don't know what that word might be.


     Since the show is at the Yeshiva University Museum it may lose a lot of potential visitors.  Many people don't even know that the Center for Jewish History, the larger building which houses the museum, exists.  It's interesting to note that since this is a touring show, several different types of institutions will host it.  In San Francisco it was the Cartoon Art Museum.  In Ann Arbor it is at the University of Michigan art gallery.  In Toronto and Portland at Jewish-culture focused arts foundation and museum.  The place in which art is viewed influences how the show is perceived.  Because it was in the CJH, I was more in tune to the Jewish identity aspect.  I wonder if or how I would have thought differently had it been at the Brooklyn Museum or The Drawing Center.  I learned about the show by chance, thanks to an ad embedded in a news website I was reading- I do hope that the people who would appreciate it will get word of it.