The exhibit KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Comics + Video Games + Art opened at the Vancouver Art Gallery in mid-May and runs to September 7, 2008. The exhibit brings together comics, graphic novels, manga, anime, animated cartoons, computer and video games, and visual art and claims in the first gallery to be a ground-breaking exhibit because it showcases all of these art forms in a single exhibit.
As a fan of graphic novels, I enjoyed seeing the collection of sketches and concept drawings of some of the artists featured in the exhibit, particularly those of Chris Ware and Alison Bechdel. I’m convinced that Chris Ware must be a robot given the precision of his draft work. Alison Bechdel surprised me for the depth of research she put into single pages of her graphic novel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Bechdel’s work is featured in the graphic novels section of the exhibit, but there is also a small room near the comics and graphic novels reading area (that some people seemed to miss) where a page of Bechdel’s work is on the wall surrounded by some of the resources she relied on to create the page. These include a handwritten letter from her father to her mother, photographs, a map, etc. It was a real treat to learn about the work involved in producing the art forms included in KRAZY!
Another interesting aspect of the exhibit is the involvement of experts in the field as co-curators in selecting the content for each section. For example, Art Spiegelman and Seth curated the comics and graphic novels sections of the exhibit, and it’s fascinating to see their selection of the artists featured in the exhibit and to consider why they might have left out others (namely Will Eisner and Robert Crumb). Unfortunately, the involvement of multiple curators leads to some problems as well. Most striking to me was the lack of consistency between each section of the exhibit. Some curators were more concerned about the history and development of their art form, while others chose to focus more heavily on currently active artists. In some cases, as in the manga and anime sections of the exhibit, the history and development of the art form are not sufficiently described for visitors to be able to fully grasp the achievements of current artists. As someone who is not very familiar with manga and anime, these sections of the exhibit did little to help me understand these art forms in the context of their rich history, but I still enjoyed looking at the art and video clips at the gallery.
I couldn’t wait to see the video games section because I thought it might remind me of Play: The Video Games World, an exhibit that I saw at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome in 2002. While I wasn’t expecting anything comparable in size to Play, I was still disappointed by this section of KRAZY! Game designer Will Wright curated this section of the exhibit, and I was more than a little frustrated by his curatorial work. All of the curators were required to select a very limited number of artists and works to feature in their sections, and Wright selected two of his own games for inclusion in the video games section. The Sims was a very innovative game for its time and fully deserved to be highlighted, but the inclusion of Spore, a game which has not yet proven itself because it has not been released, is questionable and smacks of free promotion for Electronic Arts.
Some visitors will no doubt criticize the exhibit for not including their favourite artists, but the Vancouver Art Gallery should be commended for giving visitors a voice about this. On the second floor, visitors can fill out a form making a case for an artist or work they feel the exhibit overlooks. The Vancouver Art Gallery considers these statements, and in some cases, will purchase the item in question for the small display area on the second floor. Some of the works added to the exhibit when I visited were Marjane Satrapi’s The Complete Persepolis and Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese. The exhibit could not possibly include all of the artists and works worthy of attention from the wide audience that will visit KRAZY! this summer, but it’s great to see that the Vancouver Art Gallery is listening to its visitors.
KRAZY! is certainly worth a visit, and has tremendous appeal for Vancouverites given that the city is responsible for so much video game production and is home to so many artists, including the Cloudscape comics collective. Give yourself at least three hours to see the exhibit, as this will allow you to peruse the comics, graphic novels and manga featured in the reading area on the 1st floor, to view some of the animated cartoons (contact the VAG for screening times), and to play a few of the video games. You should also bring a small notebook and a pencil with you because you will certainly want to jot down the titles of some of the works for future reading or playing.
Did you see KRAZY!? If so, please feel welcome to share your thoughts on this exhibit by posting a comment on the City Diorama.
