Against the Wall Gallery Presents:

Comical Proportions: Hi/Lo Art

Local Comic book illustrators

January 6th – 31st, 2006

Opening Reception: Friday, Jan.6th, 6p.m.-9p.m

 Super-heroes, strange mutant creatures, and graphical drama come out in the dead of winter to warm up the art experience. "High/Lo Art" will feature some of Lincoln and surrounding areas top illustrators/comic book artists, which include Bob Hall, Matt Haney, Joe Damon, Shawn Drapal, Jack Irons and Neal Obermeyer.

The exhibition will be on display January 6th – 31st, with an opening reception on Friday, Jan. 6th, 2006 from 6 to 9 pm.Live music (TBA), hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will accompany the artwork. The artists will be on hand to chit chat.

Please join us in January for this cast of interesting characters. Against the Wall Gallery is open Mon., Wed., Fri. and Sat., 10-5; Tues, Thurs., 10-8. We are located in Lincoln's Historic Havelock area at 6220 Havelock Avenue. For further information, please contact us at (402) 467-3484 or e-mail us at u a t w (at) a l l t e l (dot) n e t .

Bob Hall-graduated from the UN-L in the early 70s. Thereafter he worked mainly in New York City for many of the major comic book companies like DC and Marvel. Bob began a long-standing association with Marvel Comics, which lasts up to today. Bob has drawn almost every major character for Marvel, including The Champions, Spiderman, Dr. Doom, Conan, Thor, the Fantastic Four, The Submariner, Captain America, PSI Force, The Avengers, and The New Mutants. In 1990, Bob's friend and editor, Jim Shooter was pushed out of Marvel, and Shooter decided to start his own comic label, Valiant [which would later become Acclaim]. Shooter asked Bob if he'd like to do some work for the newly formed Valiant in 1991, and Bob happily accepted. For three years Bob wrote and penciled the monthly series Shadowman, one of comic-doms all-time, most award-winning, non-mainstream series. Since Acclaim's demise in the mid 1990's, Bob has continued working in the comics field, for both D.C. and Marvel. Within the last five years, Bob wrote and illustrated three graphic novels for D.C.'s "Prestige Series" - I, Joker, Batman DOA, and the mini-series, Its Jokertime. While Bob spent twenty-five years living in New York City, successfully pursuing dual careers in comics and theatre, as of 2002, Bob is back in his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, still working in both career fields. More info at www.bobhall.com

Joe Damon was born in Hastings, Nebraska and with a couple of exceptions he has lived in Lincoln his entire life. At a young age he taught himself the fundamentals of drawing and throughout the years has steadily built upon that foundation of understanding. He is a strong draftsman who puts a lot of emphasis on line and color to create his compositions. Artistically he is influenced by comic books, comic strips, and traditional animation. When Joe is not drawing or painting he’s sculpting, and could easily see sculpture as his main creative outlet in the future.

Matt Haney - Born in Oklahoma City, OK in 1975, raised in Omaha, NE, he attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and graduated with a bacheloršs degree in fine art with an emphasis in painting and graphic design. He works as a newspaper graphic artist and illustrator, comic artist, painter and cartoonist at the Omaha World Herald.Matt is heavily influenced by pop culture, particularly comic books, animation, science fiction and horror films from the 1920s-60s, as well as Japanese monster movies and superhero television shows of the 1950s-70s. Pop Art, Surrealism, Expressionism, Ash Can School, classic comic art and pulp illustration inspire his artwork. Artists that have influenced and inspired Matt are: painters Francis Bacon, Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Louis Michel Eilshemius, George Luks, and cartoonists/illustrators Jack Kirby, Bruce Timm, Alex Toth, Jack Davis, Frank Miller, Jim Woodring, Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, Johnny Ryan and DaveCooper.  

Jack Irons describes his work comically as a combination of realism, abstractionism and comicbookism. His influences from youth were Jack Kirby, John Burns and later the works of Leonardo DaVinci, and a hint of various video games. Jack received a BFA from UN-L in 1997 and has since worked in various media. He has worked as the Art Director for the Lincoln Reader, created educational software for various museums including the Nat’l Civil Rights Museum and the D-Day Museum and currently does graphic design work for Lincoln company DesignWear. Along with Matt Haney, Shawn Drapal, Rob Blum and Jon Frank, Jack published a self-produced comic series entitled Symmetry in the late 90s.
Shawn Drapal can be characterized as a lunatic of the pen. His strange creatures attack the page with ferocious energy, losing bodily fluids along the way. Shawn is a reluctant superhero of the comic world, working diligently on a body of work that has struggled for deserved recognition. Shawn’s influences range greatly from Picasso to breakfast cereal. Shawn has created signage for a specialty grocery store, done graphic design and illustration for the Daily Nebraskan and most recently was the artist for the Nebraska State Quarter Design committee. As stated in Jack’s bio, Shawn was a contributor and also co-creator of Symmetry. Shawn emerged victorious in Cornfed Video’s Mini-Comic contest, and currently makes independent comics. Shawn holds, wearily, a BFA degree from the University of Nebraska.
Neal Obermeyer has been drawing since he was very young and was first wooed into the comic world by his cousins. He got sucked deeper and deeper into comics as he grew up, imitating the styles of many of his favorite comic artists. As he entered high school and college he developed his own style of comics. Neal has worked extensively in the milieu of editorial cartooning for several years. His work began at the Daily Nebraskan and has continued to the Lincoln Journal Star, The San Diego Reader, Omaha City Weekly and the Hastings Tribune. He has also had actual comic series Night Knight that was published in the Journal Star and also a comic series called Planarian Man. Neal is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism/broadcasting at UN-L and is working on a documentary film tentatively titled: Thank You Masked Man.