Below are some images from the opening reception:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

The Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, with support from several SLU departments and programs, is pleased to present a return lecture presentation by David Rees, author of the well-known syndicated comic series, Get Your War On and Get Your War On II.  The lecture will be presented on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, in Griffiths Room 123 at 7:00 p.m.

David’s newest book, Get Your War On: The Definitive Account of the War on Terror 2001-2008, is hailed by Rolling Stone as “the most original cartoon to emerge since… well ever.  Raw, enraged, sardonic, hilarious, despairing, and impossible to pigeonhole” while Comedy Central writes that David Rees is “the Thomas Nast of the Internet.”

Matt Taibbi writes in his introduction the book,

“[Get Your War On] is a tale of a guy pacing back and forth in his pajamas in his New York home, trying to find his way back to humor, only to keep getting dragged back down by disgust and mortification over the state of things in “War on Terrorism” America.  It’s an honest portrait of who we were, written in a time when no one else had the guts to tell the truth about ourselves.  Get Your War On exposes us as the cowardly, self-pitying, half-educated violence addicts that we are — and exposes the “War on Terrorism” as a pathetic excuse to cosmetically enhance our flagging self-esteem, a national boob job that didn’t come close to looking real and will only look worse as we get older.”

You can learn more about David Rees and his work at http://www.mnftiu.cc/.

According to the author, Get Your War On will be retired after this year’s Presidential election, so David is calling his final presentations “post-election post-mortems.”

All author royalties from the Get Your War On books are donated to the Mine Detection & Dog Center Team #5, which clears land mines and unexploded ordnance in western Afghanistan.

***The presentation will undoubtedly include swear words, so parents, please check David’s Web site before you consider letting your children attend.***

Since 1995, KARTOON KINGS, Simon Grennan (UK) and Christopher Sperandio (US) have created comic books and art installations based on their iconic cartoon drawing style.  These works often focus attention on specific contexts and communities. HORSE GUTS is a new painted installation, which takes as its starting point artworks by Canton’s most famous native, Frederic Remington (1861-1909).  Much has been written about Remington’s vision of the American West.  For this installation, Grennan and Sperandio have isolated Remington’s pictorial interest in animals, namely the horse.  In many of Remington’s works, the horse is a tool of war and often an expendable one at that…… for more complete information go to the gallery.

Drew Cameron and Drew Matott, Breaking Rank (detail), n.d.

The current exhibition in the Brush Gallery (hallway) is going to include the upcoming discussions and workshops:

For complete information about this exhibition go here.