Railing against theuniform blandness of American society, Woodruff, chair of the illustration andcartooning department at New York’s School of Visual Arts, has assembled a disquietingcollection of pieces reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s novel Something Wicked This Way Comes, or the feel of Marc Caro andJean-Pierre Jeunet’s 1995 film, The Cityof Lost Children.
Bemoaningcontemporary culture as “scarier than the fiercest scaly beast in the mostshadowy of woods,” Woodruff touts his exhibit as “the fa%uFFFDade of a carnie’stent, or a map of the heart… my sprawling celebration of all things aberrant.It’s a protest march against those who dream of breeding one big blandhomogenous village, drained of color, variety, and eccentric spectacle.”
Themixed-media-on-paper pieces, depicting unusual characters such as Anatomy Boyand Poor Mr. P, each tell a story, many accompanied by a poem written by theartist. Woodruff, a former tattoo artist and veritable rock star of thealternative arts world, has also illustrated numerous periodicals and bookjackets for such notable authors as Robertson Davies, Ann Tyler and GabrielGarcia Marquez. The artist will be on hand for a 6 p.m. opening-night gallerywalk-through and book signing on Jan. 27.
The Haggerty Museumof Art is located on the campus of Marquette University, at 13th andClybourn streets.
