The Museum at Kuperstown

The Heights Arts gallery in Cleveland is currently running an exhibit on writer/illustrator/comic book artist phenomenon Peter Kuper. The exhibit unfortunately closes February 6. It's a shame I don't live near Ohio.

According to Heights Arts director William Busta, Kuper always has been a bit of a rabble-rouser, even back in his days as a teenager in Cleveland...

Kuper definitely has his own distinctive range of styles, which often stray from the humorous into darker forms of social commentary. Like the work of artist Sue Coe, known for a biting graphical commentary on the meat industry titled "Porkopolis," he sometimes draws upon dead-serious artists of the past, such as German Expressionists George Grosz and Otto Dix.

The timing of Kuper's show in Cleveland coincides with the recent release of two of his books, the graphic novel "Sticks and Stones" and a reissue of his adaptation of Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle."

Just to give the guy a nod, his graphic novel without words The System and his adaptations of Upton Sinclair and Franz Kafka are incredible works. The man has a style with pastels that screams with harsh emotion and feeling.