Talk Description:
From speaker Charles Burns: My talk will offer an image-rich retrospective of my work in comics and illustrations. I will begin with early publication in Art Speigelman’s Raw and other punk fanzines of the early 80’s, through years in Italy (1984-86) with Matotti’s “Valvoline” Group of artists; my stories for various horror anthologies and the ElBorbah series; the many magazine publications; illustrations for alternative reviews, famous magazines (Time; Esquire)comics anthologies and cd covers; up through the current series of books, including the first, X’ed Out (released November, 2010, Pantheon Books).

Biography:
Charles Burns is a cartoonist and illustrator whose books include Big Baby (2000, Fantagraphics Books), Skin Deep (2001, Fantagraphics Books) Black Hole (2005, Pantheon Books) and X’ed Out (2010, Pantheon Books). Since its debut, Black Hole has been a multiple Harvey, Eisner and Ignatz Award winner, and made The Comics Journal’s list of the “Top 100 English-Language Comics of the Century.” Burns’s first significant work appeared in Speigelman’s Raw magazine in the early 1980s. His many comics and projects range from Iggy Pop’s “Brick by Brick” album cover to a recent ad campaign for Altoids. He has designed the set for Mark Morris's New York production of The Nutcracker at BAM. A prolific and highly-sought magazine illustrator, his work has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, The New York Times magazine. In 2003 Burns became the regular cover artist for The Believer. Along with several other prominent graphic artists, Burns contributed to the French animated feature Peur(s) Du Noir which was released by IFC in 2008.