I'm really excited about this one! I've done this new painting for &Gallery's 2022 Anime Art Exhibition, a celebration of all things anime and manga! I'm in the "Chibi Market" portion of the show, which is for different kinds of merch as well as smaller art pieces, like this 11 x 15 painting. In addition to the original painting, this is going to be available as an &Gallery-exclusive art print, in a signed-and-numbered limited edition of 20!
Yukito Kishiro's "Battle Angel Alita" is really special to me. I've loved comics my entire life, but I didn't have much access to them growing up, besides newspaper funnies. When I was fourteen, I started trying to write and draw my own, and I discovered that making comics was what I wanted--no, needed--to do with my life. I started seeking out any kind of comic I could get my hands on, to study and learn from as many different works as I could. That's when I found the first volume of "Battle Angel Alita" at the city library, as part of their strange assortment of graphic novels. What an inspiration it was! Everything about it spoke to me--setting, characters, tone, technique. Its combination of hope and despair. Its contrast of extreme violence and gruesome body horror against warmth and kindness. I'm not sure how many times I checked that book out from the library before I was able to buy my own copy... Still to this day the entire series remains one of my biggest personal favorites and sources of inspiration.
Watercolor, 11 x 15 inches JoJo Seames, 2022
&Gallery is located at 419 N. 4th Ave in Tucson, Arizona. Anime Art Exhibition opening reception is Saturday, August 6th, from 6 - 9 pm!
