John McCrea’s solo exhibition opens in Birmingham

John McCreaPaul H. Birch reports on the opening of comic artist John McCrea’s solo exhibition at the Birmingham gallery Havill & Travis at Primitivo.

Work from throughout John’s long and illustrious career is being showcased, including original cover art drawings framed with the actual published comics, limited edition screen-prints and limited edition giclee prints – and he’s also running a series of comic workshops.

Three new stunning Silkscreen editions of Spider-Man along with giclee editions of Poison Ivy, the Joker and Black Panther are on display, plus previously unseen original art from 2000AD with Judge Dredd in the world of The Magic Roundabout

John McCrea - Spider-Man

Monday proved to be its usual life-draining exercise in ignoramus daylight vampires sucking what’s left of my sanity and goodwill dry, whereas, the evening proved a much needed delight for Stella and I as we attended the opening of John McCrea‘s art exhibition at Primitivo in Birmingham’s city centre.

Primarily illustration work and covers, though some unpublished Dredd pages featuring Magic Roundabout pastiches were also present. It barely touched John’s range of work. And, for those who’ve been keeping up with his sequential artwork in recent years we can but hope such a future exhibition won’t be long in coming.

However, the highlights of the evening proved the people present and their most amiable greetings, John and his good wife Rachel, Jane and Hunt Emerson, Lew Stringer and Mike Higgs, who proved as amusing as ever (and whose work I explained to Stella used to feature in Pow! and Smash that my Uncle Richard used to get!), too brief a hello to Laura Howell as we left, along with a host of others some of whom we’d never met before but made us feel welcome.

John McCrea - Daredevil

John McCrea Exhibition 2019. Photo courtesy Lew Stringer

Photo courtesy Lew Stringer

John McCrea Exhibition 2019. Photo courtesy Lew Stringer

Photo courtesy Lew Stringer

John will also be running some art classes there during its six week run. Hunt Emerson’s previous exhibition there was also a hoot, so hopefully we can look forward to similar events later in the year.

But for now, get yourself along and admire John’s work – It’s big, bold and in your face in a most delightful way!

Paul H. Birch

• Havill & Travis Gallery @ Primitivo Bar & Eatery, 10 Barwick Street, Birmingham B3 2NT | The exhibition is open Monday – Friday 11.00am – 5.00pm and admission is free. Original artwork and prints are available to buy with prices ranging from £90 to £4,000

John McCrea - Comic Art WorkshopsJOHN MCCREA COMIC WORKSHOPS

During his exhibition, John will be hosting Comic Art Workshops open to the public, for ages 12 and up, all abilities welcome. No booking required but space is limited so please arrive by 12.45pm for a 1.00pm start.

The dates are Thursday 30th May from 1 – 2.00pm; Tuesday 18th June from 1 – 2.00pm; and Monday 24th June from 1 – 2.00pm

John will also be at the gallery on Thursday 13th June between 1 – 3.00pm, so please drop in for a chat!

• Further details at www.havillandtravis.com

[amazon_link asins=’1401288596,B00E1LWHC8,B07DVQBXP8,1302904728,B07M8YP5PP’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’downthetubes’ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’6c75acac-2797-4cc7-b3c5-d14f46d7d532′]



Categories: downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Exhibitions

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading