THE ART OF S. CLAY WILSON is the long-awaited career retrospective of the most extreme of the Zap cartoonists of the late 1960s. A self-described ""graphic agoraphobe,"" Wilson draws manically dense scenes of lurid mayhem that rank among the seminal works of underground, counterculture American art. It's all here, from the classic chronicles of the Checkered Demon to salacious stories about the pirates, prostitutes, and poets that inhabit Wilson's divinely depraved world.The definitive collection of the art of legendary Zap comic artist S. Clay Wilson.Features 200 full-color images, including new work and previously unpublished prints commissioned for private collections.Introduction by R. Crumb touts Wilson's role as one of the originators of underground comix."Wilson was the strongest, most original artist of my generation that I had yet met. . . . There was something very familiar about the drawings, yet something entirely new, never before seen! It looked like folk art, like old-time tattoos, like some high school hotrodder's notebook drawings. They were rough, crazy, coarse, deeply American."-from R. Crumb's introductionReviews"To hell with Capt. Jack Sparrow, when are they going to make a movie about Cap'n Pissgums and his Pervert Pirates?. . . Even the least of the prints throb with diabolical energy and are ornamented by the kind of hardboiled captions you wish could be turned into movie dialogue."-San Jose Metro". . . rather rude (but very welcome). . . it's mesmerizing work, and hugely influential as well."-PW Daily
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* The definitive collection of the art of legendary Zap comic artist S. Clay Wilson. * Features 200 full-color images, including new work and previously unpublished prints commissioned for private collections. * Introduction by R. Crumb touts Wilson’s role as one of the originators of underground comix. "Wilson was the strongest, most original artist of my generation that I had yet met. . . . There was something very familiar about the drawings, yet something entirely new, never before seen! It looked like folk art, like old-time tattoos, like some high school hotrodder’s notebook drawings. They were rough, crazy, coarse, deeply American."
—from R. Crumb’s introduction
About the Author
S. CLAY WILSON’s personal epiphany occurred in the heartland over a half century ago when he discovered E.C. Comics. He has been drawing ever since. After years of needless college education in art department dogma, some military service, travel hither and yon, and years of shows and comics, he believes that if you’re not good enough to be a cartoonist, maybe you can be an artist. He lives and draws in San Francisco.
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By JAS
Format:Hardcover
The ART of S. CLAY WILSON is one hundred fifty-four pages of non-stop art. As always, Wilson's art is wild, visceral, violent, sexual, sincere, and enormously playful. The work is arranged chronologically, 1961 through 2006, and it's a helluva freewheeling ride.
This book opens with six short (1-3 pages) introductory pieces written by R. Crumb, Mark Pascale (Associate Curator of Pints & Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago), John Francis Putnam (writing in The Realist), Charles Plymell (Wilson's first publisher), Geoffrey Young (Curator, The Geoffrey Young Gallery), and Bob Levin (author - his "Outlaws, Rebels, Free-Thinkers and Pirates" includes a chapter on Wilson). Most are funny, revealing, or sentimental (!), all provide some background information for the work that follows.
The book itself is a beauty, surprisingly understated in design and layout. The clean presentation complements the relentlessly detailed art. There are nice touches throughout, including checkered endpapers and a title page self-portrait.
You'll find very few pages of comics or stories in this volume. The ART of S. CLAY WILSON is a life-spanning collection of mostly full-page drawings and illustrations. If you're looking for Wilson comics, try Last Gasp's THE COLLECTED CHECKERED DEMON.
If you're a Wilson fan, snatch this book up. It's a good one.
This book opens with six short (1-3 pages) introductory pieces written by R. Crumb, Mark Pascale (Associate Curator of Pints & Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago), John Francis Putnam (writing in The Realist), Charles Plymell (Wilson's first publisher), Geoffrey Young (Curator, The Geoffrey Young Gallery), and Bob Levin (author - his "Outlaws, Rebels, Free-Thinkers and Pirates" includes a chapter on Wilson). Most are funny, revealing, or sentimental (!), all provide some background information for the work that follows.
The book itself is a beauty, surprisingly understated in design and layout. The clean presentation complements the relentlessly detailed art. There are nice touches throughout, including checkered endpapers and a title page self-portrait.
You'll find very few pages of comics or stories in this volume. The ART of S. CLAY WILSON is a life-spanning collection of mostly full-page drawings and illustrations. If you're looking for Wilson comics, try Last Gasp's THE COLLECTED CHECKERED DEMON.
If you're a Wilson fan, snatch this book up. It's a good one.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not for timid reders, but unique, strong, well drawn and well printed
February 23, 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The format and the genre remind me of The ''R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book'' (hard cover edition). The only thing I can compare Wilson's content with is Andy Warhol's Frankenstein movie, that was so horrible that it makes other horror movies seem ridiculous. Some drawings are shocking even to an old S. Clay Wilson fan, and any page, but perhaps some of the review pages in the beginning, will shock most people. R. Crumb learned much of his lack of self-sensorchip from Wilson.
The book is large format, well bound and well printed. It has a real folded and sewn binding, nut just glued in pages in a hard cover. The paper is very white and the ink is very black. The majority of the pages are in color and the color is bright and consistent. I often found myself using a magnifying glass, and I am short sighted. The pages are full of art. It is long for a book of less than 200 pages.
The content is unrestrained fantasy of violence, ugliness, lust sadism and death. Monsters from the Freudian id, as they said in the movie Forbidden Planet. The art work is not so much moderated by childishness as the comix, but it is still so unreal that we are reminded that this is pure fantasy, not to be compared to real life. I get no sense that there is anything evil about the artist. That is just the subject.
More knowledgeable comments are contained in the early pages of the book.
The book is large format, well bound and well printed. It has a real folded and sewn binding, nut just glued in pages in a hard cover. The paper is very white and the ink is very black. The majority of the pages are in color and the color is bright and consistent. I often found myself using a magnifying glass, and I am short sighted. The pages are full of art. It is long for a book of less than 200 pages.
The content is unrestrained fantasy of violence, ugliness, lust sadism and death. Monsters from the Freudian id, as they said in the movie Forbidden Planet. The art work is not so much moderated by childishness as the comix, but it is still so unreal that we are reminded that this is pure fantasy, not to be compared to real life. I get no sense that there is anything evil about the artist. That is just the subject.
More knowledgeable comments are contained in the early pages of the book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Renato Frigo
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The most complete art book of the master Clay Wilson. Since the first draw till today you will find the masterwork of crazy times. Very good book!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
I did not purchase this item but received by mistake
This is the most trashy filth I have seen in a long time. I did not order this product. It just arrived one day. Thankfully I opened the package and not my 10 year old. Read more
Published 22 days ago by jam1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
Art of S. Clay Wilson
Wilson is an iconic artist of the late 20th Century. This book needs to be read in small doses as the drawings are dense and complex requiring some effort on the part of the... Read more
Published 23 days ago by Geoffrey Grant
5.0 out of 5 stars
great
s clay has always been my favorite comix author. i was saddened to lean that he had become injured. i know that his lifetime work has always made me very happy.
Published 4 months ago by bill
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting but missing most of his better earlier work
I bought this book hoping to see some of S. Clay Wilson's Zap Comix strips and drawings, like Captain Pissgums and his Pervert Pirates, and his incredibly gross and funny... Read more
Published 6 months ago by E. Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars
S. Clay Wilson - Zap Comix Wild Man
S. Clay Wilson was a staple of the Zap Comix and other assorted underground comics such as Snarf and Yellow Dog pantheon of the late 60s and early 70s. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Joel Parker
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