Sunday, August 2, 2009

Big Funny: Things You Should Know



About Big Funny
(Things about the project you may not know that we think are cool.)

  • Big Funny, at 48 ginormous pages, features the work of 47 contributing artists.
  • Only 2,000 copies were printed!
  • The project was coordinated entirely by volunteers, who have contributed 1,000 hours to the project to date.
  • Big Funny was printed locally in Minnesota.
  • The newspaper size, (16" wide by 22-3/4" tall with an image area of 15" wide by 21-1/2"), is true to an original newspaper from the 1910-30's eras.
  • Proceeds earned from Big Funny benefit two affiliated groups: Altered Esthetics, a nonprofit arts organization that works to support artists and The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, a community of comic artists.
  • Artist submissions were open to all and chosen democratically by the editorial review panel.
  • The original Big Funny Logo was designed by editor Steven Stwalley. The Big Funny Logo featured on the cover of the paper was hand drawn by editor Zander Cannon, and features all the characters from inside the paper itself.
  • Even the ads in Big Funny are cool! The ads for sponsors on the back of the paper were hand-drawn by editor Kevin Cannon, with the words for "the Source" ad penned by editor Steven Stwalley. The classifieds feature a mix of original limericks, artist bios, vintage ads from old comics and more.
  • Big Funny arrived to the gallery on two ginormous pallets and copies were hand-loaded by the editors to a super secret location to be stored until the day of the opening. Copies of Big Funny narrowly avert both floods and theft while they wait to be released this Friday, August 7th.

Big Funny: A celebration of the Newspaper Comic Strip!

The 48-page oversized newspaper will premiere at Altered Esthetics this Friday featuring poster-sized comic artwork from 47 artists.

In addition to having copies of BIG FUNNY for sale ($5 each), the opening reception will include:
  • Original artwork from the publication,
  • examples of historic comics pages (some over a century old),
  • a retrospective of unseen comic artwork by William Ede,
  • live music from The Roe Family Singers and
  • the little funny sideshow- a vintage cigarette machine repurposed to vend mini-comics and comic art!
Opening Reception
Friday August 7, 2009 7pm-11pm

Show runs August 7-29, 2009

Gallery Hours
Saturdays 1pm-5pm
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1pm-7pm

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413.
612.378.8888

cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny