Clementine announces the opening of Gary Panter: Pictures from the Psychedelic Swamp, 1972-2001, co-curated by Dan Nadel, Elizabeth Burke, and Abby Messitte. The show will run from April 4, 2008 – May 10, 2008 . A reception for the public will be held on Friday, April 4, from 6-8 PM .

Known as the “father of punk comics,” Panter played a pivotal role in transforming underground comics into a viable form of art. This exhibition celebrates three decades of his art that have been largely unseen from a critical perspective.

Evoking the context of Panter’s own studio, the salon-style exhibition will be a visual tour-de-force. Featuring a combination of sculpture, acrylic, ink, and watercolor paintings on canvas and paper, as well as eclectic ephemera, the show will offer a vast variety of imagery from Panter’s oeuvre. Stylistically, Panter’s idiosyncratic ratty line characterizes the eccentric nature of his psychedelic depictions.

Panter’s comics were featured in the groundbreaking graphic magazine RAW , and he won three Emmy awards for set design on television’s Pee Wee’s Playhouse . In 2000, Panter was the recipient of the Chrysler Design Award, honoring individuals that have significantly influenced American culture. In 2005 Panter’s work was included in the traveling exhibition Masters of American Comics that was organized by UCLA Hammer Museum and LA MoCA and traveled to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the Newark Museum.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of a two-volume, 688 page full-color monograph of Panter’s work, published by PictureBox, which will be available at the gallery. Also, in addition to the exhibition at Clementine, Gary Panter is being featured in his first solo museum exhibition, Daydream Trap , at the Aldridge Museum in Ridgefield, CT, from March 9-August 31, 2008.