La Luz de Jesus Presents Mark Todd

MARK TODD

November 2-December 2, 2007

Painter, illustrator and author Mark Todd took his first creative cues from comic books and Star Wars: worlds of inventive fantasy that still inform his art. His latest work involves intense scrutiny and alteration of classic comic covers from “Fantastic Four,” “X-Men,” “Iron Man,” “Spiderman” and other series, including the work of legendary illustrators like Jack Kirby. “I love the type, the heavy shadows, the colors and the way they seemed to use very inch of the page,” says Todd. “I sit and study them, and my brush reconstructs them.” Todd is referencing the past, waxing nostalgic about it and simultaneously lending his own post-modern sensibility to it, employing a limited palette, repetition, distortion and mixed media materials including spray paint, cel-vinyl, glossy varnishes

and dusty stains. The pieces are rounded at the edges, unframed, appearing as prized objects; tablets encoded with civilization’s most iconic collective wisdom. His work has appeared in scores of publications including Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, New York Times, the New Yorker and on MTV. Todd graduated with honors in 1993 from Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, where he has also taught since 2003. He has also written several children’s books, and most recently co-authored “Whatcha Mean, What's A Zine? “ with his wife and fellow artist, Esther Pearl Watson, published in 2006 by Graphia, http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/graphia, 112 pages, ISBN: 0-618-563156, $12.99.