originalcomicartfromt heglennbraycollection

O R I G I N A L
C O M I C
A R T
F R O M
T H E
G L E N N
B R AY
C O L L E C T I O N
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ABOVE: San Fernando, California (January 1964).
Glenn Bray in his room (before owning any
original artwork!). Photo by Dorothea Bray.
!"#
$%&''()*+,(-'!&*.-&/
W I T H
D O U G
H A R V E Y
Strangely enough, I first heard about Glenn Bray from
hardcore participants in the Art World — particularly
Jim Shaw and Cameron Jamie, who urged me to visit his
San Fernando Valley home and view his unique collection. I was
familiar with the futurist sculpture and outsider anthropology of
Stanislav Szukalski, and had almost ordered the Bray-published
Basil Wolverton GJDRKZLXCBWQ Comics as a teenager, but when
I finally made the trek, I was unprepared for the idiosyncratic sweep
of Bray’s interests and activities. Not only had Bray played a
pivotal role in cementing the reputations of Wolverton, Harvey
Kurtzman, and Carl Barks, he was also largely responsible for the
peculiar revival of interest in the anti-Santa Krampus, and the
unleashing of wrestling novelty records on an unsuspecting world:
this in addition to owning a world-class collection of original
comic art, Art Art, all manner of printed ephemera, weird-ass
knick-knacks, and sundry unclassifiables.
I sat down with him over a couple of sessions to try and sort
out how the son of a hardware-store owner came to be one of the
most individualistic and exemplary collectors I’ve met in my 25
years in the Art World.
—Doug Harvey
Canadian-born, Los Angelesbased artist and critic Doug
Harvey received his M.F.A. in
painting from UCLA in 1994
and continues to exhibit his
work, often collaborating with
other multimedia artists. Best
known as an art critic for LA
Weekly and Art Issues magazine,
he has contributed to a host
of other publications. He has
written museum-catalog essays
about creators as diverse as Big
Daddy Roth, Margaret Keane,
and Thomas Kinkade.
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| THE MAD READER
2
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. I was born in 1948. Culturally, my parents
had no interest in art so I had no idea what art was, but I started watching cartoons
and looking at comic books. I have an older sister, five years older than me. We had a
communal drawer of comic books. Before I could even read, I would go to these comics.
My parents actually encouraged me to read comics, because I could learn how to read
from them. And when it was raining, they’d say, “Just don’t sit around the TV, read
something! Read a comic book, read anything!”
So I’d go to this comic book drawer, something like a hundred comics all torn up,
some coverless: whatever my sister had bought from years past. God knows what they
were. It was a total mix. There were romance, horror, crime, funny animals, Classics
Illustrated. There was Carl Barks and Little Lulu. We actually got a subscription to
Donald Duck and Little Lulu because my dad even liked Uncle Scrooge; he thought they
were funny. So we had those coming into the house back in ’56, ’57. I was reading
those every month, but also looking at old comic books, not even knowing that some
were already 10 years old. Things like Lucky Duck or just offbeat comics.1 There was
superhero stuff, but I never really cared too much about that. I did read a lot of it,
but I just didn’t care too much about it. So I fixated on Barks, because of his art and
stories, and John Stanley because of the clean storyline.2
One day, I remember some neighbor kid and I were talking about comics, and he
said his brother had these comics called Mad.
I said, “What’s Mad?”
He said, “Well, let me get these for ya!”
And he brought over two three-ring binders of Mad comics — all covers torn off,
and all three-hole punched into these binders — and it just blew my mind. I’d never
seen anything like it. I think I eventually traded him some comics for those. This was
1957 when I got a hold of that, so I was well aware of all these artists and Kurtzman’s
Hey Look!.
What really set me back was seeing The Mad Reader story by Basil Wolverton,
because I’d never seen anything that outrageous before.3 It wasn’t only outrageously
GLENN:
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drawn, but it was the fact that it was: here’s a picture of YOU, the Mad reader. They’re
just making fun of you, and that was just so weird at the time. I think that was my
turning point in thinking that comics could be art, when I saw that.
DOUG: So
how old were you when you saw the Wolverton in Mad?
I’m pretty certain it was 1957, so I was 9 years old. So before 9, I had a whole visual
library of comic books. I grew up on comic books. And I think they were my biggest
influence more than anything, because you could have them in your hand, you could
look at them. You could either read them fast, or read them slow. You could look at
a panel and really enjoy it as long as you wanted, where a movie you’re watching in
real time, or their edited time. And you couldn’t really, at that time, stop a frame and
really look at it. But this — you could look at a cover as long as you wanted; you could
put it up on the shelf as art, whatever.
| INFLUENCES
What are your influences here?
I still have a lot of these things, or was able to go back and find some of them. This
book is a big influence: Dear Dead Days by Charles Addams.4 I bought that off the
shelf, in 1959. So I was 11 years old. I don’t know if you‘re familiar with that Addams
book, but at that time I was buying his older books in used bookstores for like a
dollar. But then this book came out, and it had his drawing on the cover, but very few
of his cartoons inside. It’s all pictures of freaks and torture devices and dead people.
This is not my original copy. I think I went through two copies — and later found a
near-mint copy.
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[Reading from text.] “Several varieties of plankton found in juice expressed from the
lungs in cases of drowning.”
You couldn’t see this stuff anywhere — I mean in historical books or anywhere —
back then. This is just macabre imagery. And it’s not really explained. He just throws
that down and you don’t know if it’s a painting or a photo or what.
It’s probably the stuff he had up on his wall.
Probably. Look, Struwwelpeter. Forgot he even had that in there. When I saw this I
just went, “wow!”: realizing this is stuff that he liked. Car wrecks, old photos, antique
/ Movies /
5
did; it must have been up to about 8 or 9 years old. And then
I just burned out on it.
So do you still shoot film or video?
I did a short video of Weird Wanda in the 1980s.6 I did early
8mm films as a teenager, like one titled Puke, the Saliva Demon,
which later got reviewed in a Don Dohler film magazine.7
Dohler was an early fanboy. He wrote for many early EC and
comic book-based fanzines when Jay Lynch and
Robert Crumb were contributing. Dohler created
the Projunior character
that Crumb later riffed
on. But I just lost interest
in making home movies. 7
I just found this. I must have been 8 or 9 years old.5
Did you ever try your own art?
I was drawing as a kid, but I never got any encouragement, and
I never saw any future in it. Drawing was a lot of work. By the
time I was getting better at drawing, I found film. I was gifted
a movie camera, and started making movies. That appealed to
me more than sitting down and drawing out ideas. I could do
things easier, faster … amass more ideas in a little 8mm film
then I could by drawing. All the artists I know, they’d keep
drawing … They’d never put the pen down. They were meant
to draw. I just didn’t have that drive. I enjoyed drawing when I
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/ Movies /
And I swear the people running
this place looked like Manson
followers. They just all looked
like drug-addled, crazed hippies
out of the Spahn Ranch.
8
But we didn’t film them,
unfortunately.
LENA:
We didn’t film them because they looked like they were
meth addicts. They just let the
place go. There was no watering. There was just dirt. They
probably bought the place when
it had a lawn and most of the
gadgets were working, but when
we got there half the stuff wasn’t
running, you know?
GLENN:
I later shot a video in Flintstone Park with Lena [Zwalve,
Dutch comix editor and Bray’s wife] that made the rounds of
friends.
LENA: It’s really nothing. We went to the Grand Canyon one time,
and when you’re in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, you’re
driving and all of a sudden there’s a sign for the Flintstone
Park.8 This was in 1985. So we decided to go into the park and
it was absolutely horrible. It was run
down and had all the Flintstone characters and the houses and everything.
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[Laughter.] That sounds awesome.
LENA: We sent copies to Dan Clowes
and several friends. Recently Dan
wanted a new copy because he said he
wore out his old VHS tape.
Have you digitized it?
GLENN: I’m sure I did. It’s so —
LENA: Bleak! 9
GLENN: The
bleakness is what makes it.
9 Valle, Arizona (1985). Lena Zwalve at Flintstone’s
Bedrock City. Photo by Glenn Bray.
LENA: I
remember a lot of tumbleweeds.
GLENN: It was windy. [Imitates the sound of wind.] With some
of the figures, you could step on a plate and a tape recording
would go off behind the concrete statue. It would go, “Hi! I’m
Barney Rubble,” and he didn’t move. It was just a concrete
statue with voices that didn’t match the cartoon characters.
Totally didn’t match. [Laughter.] Ï
O R I G I N A L
C O M I C
A R T
F R O M
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G L E N N
B R AY
C O L L E C T I O N
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CHARLES ADDAMS
(1912–1988)
“All I Can Get Is ‘Bubble Bubble Toil and
Trouble’” (1942)
10 ½” X 13 ½”
1
2
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RICK ALTERGOTT
(b. 1961)
1 Specialty Doofus and Henry Hotchkiss
drawing (1996)
11” X 11”
BOB ARMSTRONG
(b. 1950)
2 Mickey Rat (c. 1974)
6 ½” X 6”
3 39 Cents postcard (1988)
5 ½” X 3 ½”
3
1
2
3
BOB ARMSTRONG
(b. 1950)
1 Late Night in A Flat painting (1987)
14” X 18”
2 San Fernando Valley, California (1995).
Armstrong holding a swap meet
treasure found earlier that day.
BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF
(1899–1965)
3 Art deco angel (c. 1920s)
9” X 6 ½”
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2
CARL BARKS
(1901–2000)
1 Goleta, California (1971). Barks is in his
backyard, displaying the first Donald
Duck oil painting that I commissioned
from him.
2 A Tall Ship and a Star to Steer Her By
(1971)
Oil on canvas, 18” X 14”
3 Nude (1939) Drawn while at Disney
Studio’s life art class.
10 ¼” X 9”
4 Earthquake letter (February 1971)
9” X 12”
5 Congratulations letter (1978)
For Glenn and Lena’s wedding
8 ½” X 11”
6 Barks self-portrait (1949)
8” X 9 ½”
7 Hemet Chamber of Commerce logo
(1949)
6” X 9 ½”
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4
5
6
7
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1
CARL BARKS
1 Bombie the Zombie painting (1972)
20” X 16”
2 Donald Duck half page from Walt
Disney’s Comics and Stories #52
(January 1945)
12” X 16”
This is the earliest original Barks’
Donald Duck artwork known to exist.
3 Uncle Scrooge one-page gag from
Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories
(June 1965)
24 ½” X 16 ½”
2
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3
# NAME
Specs
61
1
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2
ART BARTSCH
(1904–1971)
1 Mighty Mouse cover for Giant Edition
#8 (1949)
16” X 10 ¾”
H.M. BATEMAN
(1887–1970)
2 Stage Exits (1915)
17 ½” X 12 ¾”
3 The Connoisseurs (1919)
13” X 10 ½”
3
1
2
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HANS BELLMER
(1902–1975)
1 Untitled: Signed and numbered
etching (c. 1960)
24” X 17”
2 Untitled: Signed and numbered
etching (c. 1965)
15” X 22 ½”
1
2
MARK BEYER
(b. 1950)
3
1 Punks (1973)
13” X 13”
2 Amy & Jordan strip featuring
Ba Tilsdale (1989)
4 ¾” X 13 ½”
3 Amy & Jordan (1991)
5 ½” X 12 ½”
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MARK BEYER
Plexiglass painting (c. 1980)
20” X 20”
1
2
JACK BILBO
(1907–1967)
1 The Sound-Atom Listener (c. 1940)
15” X 11”
GENE BILBREW
(1923–1974)
2 Dominated in Leather from Exotique
Magazine #35 (1958)
14” X 9 ¼”
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MAHLON BLAINE
(1894–1969)
Color erotic works (c. 1940s)
4” X 6” each
1
2
3
AL BRYANT
(1917–1993)
1 The Barker #2 cover (Winter 1946)
20” X 15”
R.O. BLECHMAN
(b. 1930)
2 Humbug cover #9 (May 1958)
9” X 6”
CHARLES BURNS
(b. 1955)
3 Thrilling Defective cover (1988)
11” X 8 ½”
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1
ERNESTO CABRAL
(1890–1968)
1 El Medico de las Locas movie poster
painting (1954)
40” X 30”
2 Maria Conesa (1955)
10” X 8 ½”
3 Maria Felix (1952)
9 ¼” X 8 ¼”
4 “My Boyfriend Thinks I Have the Arms
of Venus de Milo” (1956)
10” X 8 ½”
5 Jueves de Excelsior cover (1942)
13” X 10”
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3
4
5
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ERNESTO CABRAL
1 Josephine Baker cover for Revista de
Revistas (c. 1930s)
15” X 11”
2 Dos Charros y una Gitana movie poster
painting (1954)
40” X 30”
2
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ERNESTO CABRAL
1 Comicos de la Legua movie poster
painting (1954)
40” X 30”
E.H. CALDWELL STUDIO
2 Popeye’s Blow Me Down circus
sideshow painting
(c. 1935–40)
7’10” X 9’6”
AL CAPP
(1909–1979)
3 Li’l Abner daily featuring Fearless
Fosdick (June 30, 1944)
6 ½” X 22 ¾”
2
# NAME
Specs
3
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1
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2
SERGE CLERC
(b. 1957)
1 Journey Into Mystery (fan-art cover)
(1999)
14” X 10”
DANIEL CLOWES
(b. 1961)
2 Eightball #11 cover (June 1993)
18 ¾” X 12”
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2
DANIEL CLOWES
1 Crippled Women artwork (2000)
Traded for a copy of Desire For
Crippled Women (see Interview section
for image)
12” X 9 ½”
2 “Needledick” from Eightball #7
(November 1991)
18 ¾” X 12”
3 Huntington Beach, California (1995).
Photo taken at Clowes’ wedding reception. Clowes is doing a “Kilroy” with
one of the gifts.
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4 “Immortal, Invisible” from Eightball
#16 (November 1995)
20” X 12 ½”
5 Birthday card (2008)
6 ½” X 5”
6 “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron” from
Eightball #5 (February 1991)
18 ½” X 12”
7
(FOLLOWING)
Las Vegas Grind LP cover (1991)
14 ½” X 28 ¼”
4
6
5
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# NAME
Specs
80
7
# NAME
Specs
81
DANIEL CLOWES
2
1 Jack Bilbo’s The Strange Story of the
Suicide Machine from Out of My Mind
(1946)
2 Clowes’ interpretation of Jack Bilbo’s
The Strange Story of the Suicide
Machine (1998)
12” X 9”
1
3 Clowes’ interpretation of Jack Bilbo’s
The Strange Story of the Invisible
Torture (2003)
12” X 8 ½”
4 Jack Bilbo’s The Strange Story of the
Invisible Torture from Out of My Mind
(1946)
RON COBB
(b. 1937)
5 “Well… So Much for Crime in the
Streets…” from Los Angeles Free Press
(1968)
11” X 8 ½”
3
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# NAME
Specs
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