GRSF The Boys are Back in Town – Matt Furie, Le Merde, and Johnny Ryan 4/17/10 – 5/12/10

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Group Art Show

Matt Furie, Le Merde, and Johnny Ryan at GRSF, April 17, 2010 – May 12, 2010
Reception: Saturday, April 17, 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

GRSF
618 Shrader Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
gr-sf.com
415-876-4773

Giant Robot is proud to present The Boys Are Back in Town, a group art show featuring new works by Matt Furie, Le Merde, and Johnny Ryan.

Matt Furie creates richly detailed and hyper colored illustrations and paintings that reflect the creative cross breeding of The Neverending Story and the unrestrained imagination of The Muppet Show. For this show, he is leaning less on the eye-straining detail of Bernie Wrightson and more on the simplicity and tweaked humor of the ALF Saturday morning cartoon series. For this show, he is contributing 50 pieces (including minis, floating heads, and POGs) related to his self-published Boy’s Club comic, as well as “riffs on the characters of Johnny and Le Merde.”
Le Merde has gained a rabid following in the limited-edition figure scene with his molten and oozing but cute style. Often lost in the shadows of his sculptural work are the Portland artist’s equally colorful paintings, which also reference a loving appreciation of underground comix, Japanese horror manga, and rock ‘n’ roll. He is preparing 50 pieces of cel and ink on watercolor paper, focusing on the “three Gs”: ghosts, ghouls, and gods.

Johnny Ryan is best known for his self-published title Angry Youth Comix, which was picked up by Fantagraphics Books in 2000. His crude yet totally polished and undeniably funny illustrations reveal both a ruthless-but-loving knowledge of the topics that he slays (superhero comics, science fiction, Ernie Bushmiller, the Holocaust) and a seemingly effortless mastery of linework and energy. He promises 50 pieces of “awesome shit.”

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, as well as an online equivalent.

A reception featuring many of the artists will be held from 6:30 – 10:00 on Saturday, April 17. For more information about the artists, GRSF, or Giant Robot magazine, please contact:

Eric Nakamura
Giant Robot Owner/Publisher
eric@giantrobot.com
(310) 479-7311