Do Comics have a Place in Galleries
If you’re reading this, you’re probably aware of art galleries and exhibitions. The home of highbrow shows and sometimes questionable artwork, but does it always have to be that way. Can any form of art be displayed in galleries and if they can, should they? Is there a place in galleries for sequential art and comics?
Let’s go back to the term ‘highbrow’, what does that mean exactly? Highbrow refers to anything that requires a high intelligence to fully understand or when it comes to art, have the ability to talk your way through it, like it has more meaning than it actually does. Things like classical music and fine art have been adopted by the upper-class culture and they live in a world that doesn’t always include ‘lowbrow’ art like comics. Galleries are home to some of the most thought-provoking pieces of art around and maybe sequential art doesn’t belong there but the way I see it, galleries are for art and if a urinal is accepted then why can’t Declan Shalvey finest pages of Injection be accepted?
Injection by Declan Shalvey
It’s not like comics have never been a part of the gallery art space before, pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein have remixed comic work and presented it in a gallery form. Why should it stop there, just because it’s presented differently doesn’t stop it from being comic art and there’s examples of high end sequential art out there that would blend in galleries quite well because of how artistic and experimental it is, like Dave McKean’s Black Dog or Bill Sienkiewicz’s Stray Toasters. So why isn’t comic art shown in galleries more often?
Black Dog by Dave McKean
It might be because of the culture comic art is associate with, it’s more accessible and more enjoyed by the lower class and maybe higher class people don’t think it belongs in their world. If art like sequential art appeared in galleries more often, then maybe more lower class people would be inclined to go. Maybe fine art and galleries wouldn’t belong to highbrow people anymore and they might not want that. Everyone likes to be part of something and a lot of people like to be part of a certain community. That high-end community might be in danger of including people that they can’t relate to or get along with and I understand the higher-class community wanting to have something exclusive. It could just be as simple as that; it could be something more but that doesn’t mean comic art doesn’t deserve to be in galleries.
Ghost Rider by Bill Sienkiewicz
Galleries are for art; comics are a form of art and should be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys art. Class and intelligence are irrelevant when it comes to enjoying comics and when it comes to galleries, there’s no reason why comics can’t be appreciated as art on display.
