Suite Art Fair
www.suiteartfair.com
Featured exhibited artist by The Public Trust at Suite Art Fair in Dallas, TX. April 8-10, 2011
Featured exhibited artist by The Public Trust at Suite Art Fair in Dallas, TX. April 8-10, 2011
Review of Monty Comix Issue 2 posted at Poopsheet Foundation
Monty Comix Issue 2 reviewed by Justin Giampaoli of the Poopsheet Foundation. www.poopsheetfoundation.com
"For some reason, I’m always excited to see what someone with a Fine Arts background brings to the world of mini-comics. Perhaps it’s he clash between the faux-distinction of the high brow and low brow worlds, but Kayla Escobedo’s Monty Comix is just such a treat. Escobedo has dabbled in comics from a young age, interned at PictureBox, and is currently pursuing her MA at Harvard University and edits the Harvard Lampoon. So, let’s see what this academic pedigree does to comics. Almost immediately, I like the aesthetic that I see; it’s almost as she’s taking the picturesque Norman Rockwell settings and then sifting them through this Maus era Art Spiegelman filter. Her formless vague biped blob people all feel like strangers in strange lands who are attempting to find their place in the world. They try to find a footing in a world that views them perpetually as outsiders. Most of the early 1-2 page shorts contend with this existential angst, though Escobedo nicely terms it “spiritual unrest.” It’s almost as if her massive forms are awaiting meaning in their life to give them form. We see cities, churches, and even the countryside, but there is no respite to the lost feeling. Late in the work, it seems that one of the vague blob characters is an autobiographical cipher. Escobedo discussed her grandmother contending with a family history of diabetes, and goes on to address very specific subject matter like liver cancer, leukemia, and dementia. I think it’s telling that the other characters have their likenesses (her grandma looks like an elderly grandma), but Escobedo’s autobiographical form retains its generic qualities as it seeks to navigate existence. The last strip in the book is a little fuzzy, but the back page, in full color, more than make up for it with its direct and unflinching perception of sexism and female objectification. I’d definitely be interested in tracking down more issues of Monty Comix (currently up to issue 5 available) to see if the thread of these themes is present or if others have emerged. Grade A-."
"For some reason, I’m always excited to see what someone with a Fine Arts background brings to the world of mini-comics. Perhaps it’s he clash between the faux-distinction of the high brow and low brow worlds, but Kayla Escobedo’s Monty Comix is just such a treat. Escobedo has dabbled in comics from a young age, interned at PictureBox, and is currently pursuing her MA at Harvard University and edits the Harvard Lampoon. So, let’s see what this academic pedigree does to comics. Almost immediately, I like the aesthetic that I see; it’s almost as she’s taking the picturesque Norman Rockwell settings and then sifting them through this Maus era Art Spiegelman filter. Her formless vague biped blob people all feel like strangers in strange lands who are attempting to find their place in the world. They try to find a footing in a world that views them perpetually as outsiders. Most of the early 1-2 page shorts contend with this existential angst, though Escobedo nicely terms it “spiritual unrest.” It’s almost as if her massive forms are awaiting meaning in their life to give them form. We see cities, churches, and even the countryside, but there is no respite to the lost feeling. Late in the work, it seems that one of the vague blob characters is an autobiographical cipher. Escobedo discussed her grandmother contending with a family history of diabetes, and goes on to address very specific subject matter like liver cancer, leukemia, and dementia. I think it’s telling that the other characters have their likenesses (her grandma looks like an elderly grandma), but Escobedo’s autobiographical form retains its generic qualities as it seeks to navigate existence. The last strip in the book is a little fuzzy, but the back page, in full color, more than make up for it with its direct and unflinching perception of sexism and female objectification. I’d definitely be interested in tracking down more issues of Monty Comix (currently up to issue 5 available) to see if the thread of these themes is present or if others have emerged. Grade A-."
Syndicated Zine Reviews feature of Monty Comix
Monty Comix Issues 1-3 review posted on Syndicated Zine Reviews website. (May 15, 2011)
www.syndicatedzinereviews.blogspot.com
www.syndicatedzinereviews.blogspot.com
Australia's Blackguard reviews Monty Comix Issues 1-3
Monty Comix Issues 1-3 reviewed by Australia's Blackguard.
#1 16 pages; #2 16 pages; #3 12 pages, digest size, $? by Kayla Escobedo, montycomix(at)gmail.com www.kaylascomix.com
"Mega thanks to Dexter Cockburn for sending me these (Monty Comix #4 will be published under his The Comix Company imprint).
Monty Comix #1 is, aside from a couple of illustrations, a single story, 'High School Train Day Blues' in which 'Whale Girl' is robbed and assaulted by three thugs on the subway, who then shove her off the train. She makes it back to the platform (Union Station) to witness the same thugs assaulting a human girl. Whale Girl gets back onto a train and is creeped out by an ugly cretin sitting opposite, constantly saying, "HEY". It reminded me of Mandy Ord's similarly-themed tale from her comic Birthday Bitch. I'm pretty sure Mandy's story was autobiographical, but it makes me feel sick to think maybe Kayla's is too. Anyway, this comic is one hell of a strong first issue."
www.blackguard.com
#1 16 pages; #2 16 pages; #3 12 pages, digest size, $? by Kayla Escobedo, montycomix(at)gmail.com www.kaylascomix.com
"Mega thanks to Dexter Cockburn for sending me these (Monty Comix #4 will be published under his The Comix Company imprint).
Monty Comix #1 is, aside from a couple of illustrations, a single story, 'High School Train Day Blues' in which 'Whale Girl' is robbed and assaulted by three thugs on the subway, who then shove her off the train. She makes it back to the platform (Union Station) to witness the same thugs assaulting a human girl. Whale Girl gets back onto a train and is creeped out by an ugly cretin sitting opposite, constantly saying, "HEY". It reminded me of Mandy Ord's similarly-themed tale from her comic Birthday Bitch. I'm pretty sure Mandy's story was autobiographical, but it makes me feel sick to think maybe Kayla's is too. Anyway, this comic is one hell of a strong first issue."
www.blackguard.com
Midnight Fiction feature
Monty Comix featured on Midnight Fiction's site: www.midnightfiction.com Midnight Fiction: Mini Comics, Small Press Comix, Indy Comics, and Graphic Novel Reviews.
"Here's a preview of some beautifully drawn art comix by the talented Kayla Escobedo. The main characters, Monty and the Whale Girl are naked, just like the raw content of these highly personal comix. Be sure to visit Escobedo's website, Kayla's Comix. It's packed with artwork and comix, and links to her store where you can purchase several limited edition treasures, including these issues of Monty Comix."
"Here's a preview of some beautifully drawn art comix by the talented Kayla Escobedo. The main characters, Monty and the Whale Girl are naked, just like the raw content of these highly personal comix. Be sure to visit Escobedo's website, Kayla's Comix. It's packed with artwork and comix, and links to her store where you can purchase several limited edition treasures, including these issues of Monty Comix."
Optical Sloth reviews Monty Comix #1
That was one profoundly strange and rewarding comic. Regular readers of the site probably already know that “profoundly strange” comics are always welcome around here, but this one came in the guise of a coherent, linear story. That’s tricky to pull off and Kayla did it beautifully. This is the story of a girl or boy (ah, the website references a “Whalegirl,” so there you go) with the head and arms of a whale who is trying to take the train to school. Some youths harass her and shove the creature out at the next stop. It’s here that our heroine sees a young girl getting an even worse treatment, but because of her terror nothing is done to help this girl. More is going on behind the surface here, as these two events match up too neatly to be a coincidence. When the lead character gets back on the train our hero gets stuck sitting next to a very loud and greasy man (the type you so often see on trains), and that’s as far as I go in the descriptions. Kayla was nice enough to send the next couple of issues along as well, and I’m looking forward to reading them after this one. Generally speaking first issues of a series are where the experimenting takes place, where the artist gets the stupid mistakes out of the way. Granted, there was a printing error that mixed up the middle pages, but she made that point very clear in a note on the inside cover and the actual content was fantastic. She’s also only 22, so I recommend against going to her website and reading her accomplishments if you’re the type of person who is easily threatened by such things. You should still check out the various paintings, drawings and samples regardless, as she does have a sizable chunk of this issue up for free. I’ll hold off until I read the next too issues to get too silly with the praise, but I sense some serious potential in this one. $4
www.opticalsloth.com
www.opticalsloth.com
Interview with the Office for the Arts at Harvard University Spring 2010, following my acceptance of the Artist Development Fellowship. This interview is to inform prospective students about the arts opportunities at Harvard.
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Exhibition at The Public Trust: Press Release
About The Exhibition
The Public Trust is pleased to present this 2 person show with Taro-Kun and Kayla Escobedo. For the night of the opening the gallery's small room will become a reading room furnished by Design Within Reach, where visitors can browse and purchase handmade zines, prints and t-shirts by both artists.
About Kayla Escobedo
B. 1989, Arlington, TX. Kayla Escobedo's work explores memories, dynamic experiences, impacting dreams, and her relationship with her family. All of which she conveys through paintings and drawings as well as a self-published comic called Monty. The paintings, which are abstract in nature, are a more emotional depiction of her experience; while the comics deal with these issues in a more tangible way. Regardless of the output Escobedo moves seamlessly between the two platforms with the end product being a beautifully honest portrayal of her human experience.
About Taro-Kun
B. 1986, Reston, Virginia. The work of Taro-Kun is rooted in day to day observations which are shaped by his Japanese/American heritage. These manifest themselves as works on paper, which are densely packed with detailed vignettes of his daily interactions as well as offer a look into the lives of people as seen through the artist's multicultural lens. The voyeuristic quality in this work is gripping, making it nearly impossible to turn away from the train wreck that sometimes is the human condition.
About The Public Trust
The Public Trust was established in 2004 by owner/director BrianGibb. The gallery's program includes painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and new media works by exciting contemporary artists. In addition to the exhibition program, the gallery collaborates with artists to release print editions, monographs and other artist multiples. The Public Trust is a member of CADD (Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas)
The Public Trust
Brian Gibb
Owner/Director
The Public Trust is pleased to present this 2 person show with Taro-Kun and Kayla Escobedo. For the night of the opening the gallery's small room will become a reading room furnished by Design Within Reach, where visitors can browse and purchase handmade zines, prints and t-shirts by both artists.
About Kayla Escobedo
B. 1989, Arlington, TX. Kayla Escobedo's work explores memories, dynamic experiences, impacting dreams, and her relationship with her family. All of which she conveys through paintings and drawings as well as a self-published comic called Monty. The paintings, which are abstract in nature, are a more emotional depiction of her experience; while the comics deal with these issues in a more tangible way. Regardless of the output Escobedo moves seamlessly between the two platforms with the end product being a beautifully honest portrayal of her human experience.
About Taro-Kun
B. 1986, Reston, Virginia. The work of Taro-Kun is rooted in day to day observations which are shaped by his Japanese/American heritage. These manifest themselves as works on paper, which are densely packed with detailed vignettes of his daily interactions as well as offer a look into the lives of people as seen through the artist's multicultural lens. The voyeuristic quality in this work is gripping, making it nearly impossible to turn away from the train wreck that sometimes is the human condition.
About The Public Trust
The Public Trust was established in 2004 by owner/director BrianGibb. The gallery's program includes painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and new media works by exciting contemporary artists. In addition to the exhibition program, the gallery collaborates with artists to release print editions, monographs and other artist multiples. The Public Trust is a member of CADD (Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas)
The Public Trust
Brian Gibb
Owner/Director
Solo Exhibition at Gallery 263: Press Release
Escobedo Ignites 'Fire' With Solo Show
The Harvard Crimson
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/3/30/escobedo-exhibition-figures/
Looking at 'Invisible Cities' traveling to art by places real and imagined
photograph from Harvard Gazette website
Harvard College's Tuesday Magazine blurb write-up
Kayla Escobedo’s works are neither invitations to view nor attempts to narrate her life. Instead, they are intense snapshots of her life presented through an idiosyncratic style shaped by self-education in various media including ceramics, printmaking, painting proper, comic books, and film. Her recurring subjects are visions from poetry, select mythologies, and, predominantly, her human relationships.
In her paintings, finely detailed designs build up in mind-numbing, and yet controlled, repetitions that border, and eventually merge into, violently composed figures. These figures are outlined in clear and lean, coal black shapes, and then are besieged by carefully employed brushstrokes of acrylic or oil paint. These abstractions derive their power from basic solid shapes and lines that conglomerate into intimate ideas about her family and their happenings. This movement from minute detail to larger ideas as best shown in outbursts of expressions present in “Planting Railroad Spikes,” an account of a night with a former close companion. This makes visible the convergence of internal struggle and outward explosiveness in the same space at the same time.
This movement’s figures cannot be reduced into order by mere addition or subtraction. Their bodies are objects that happened to be solidified as their uncontrollable power exploded in a whirlwind when she put them to canvas. They are not cold swords; they are boiling iron. The figures cannot hold down the force that is within them, this force has breached their bodies.
A sophomore in Eliot House, Kayla Escobedo is a native of Dallas, Texas, and is a Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator. She has worked with Trenton Doyle Hancock, a contemporary artist based in Houston, as well as at Dunn & Brown Contemporary in Dallas, a famed art gallery. She is now the featured artist of SOCH’s second annual solo art show.
-Jack Jung
Harvard College Class of 2011
In her paintings, finely detailed designs build up in mind-numbing, and yet controlled, repetitions that border, and eventually merge into, violently composed figures. These figures are outlined in clear and lean, coal black shapes, and then are besieged by carefully employed brushstrokes of acrylic or oil paint. These abstractions derive their power from basic solid shapes and lines that conglomerate into intimate ideas about her family and their happenings. This movement from minute detail to larger ideas as best shown in outbursts of expressions present in “Planting Railroad Spikes,” an account of a night with a former close companion. This makes visible the convergence of internal struggle and outward explosiveness in the same space at the same time.
This movement’s figures cannot be reduced into order by mere addition or subtraction. Their bodies are objects that happened to be solidified as their uncontrollable power exploded in a whirlwind when she put them to canvas. They are not cold swords; they are boiling iron. The figures cannot hold down the force that is within them, this force has breached their bodies.
A sophomore in Eliot House, Kayla Escobedo is a native of Dallas, Texas, and is a Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator. She has worked with Trenton Doyle Hancock, a contemporary artist based in Houston, as well as at Dunn & Brown Contemporary in Dallas, a famed art gallery. She is now the featured artist of SOCH’s second annual solo art show.
-Jack Jung
Harvard College Class of 2011
Escobedo Exhibit Makes SOCH Penthouse Personal
The Harvard Crimson
Friday, November 6, 2009
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/6/out-abstract-escobedo-hands/weeblylink_new_window
Friday, November 6, 2009
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/6/out-abstract-escobedo-hands/weeblylink_new_window
Sketchy Future for VES
Student Art Placed at Forefront in Mass Hall
Student work lights up Mass Hall corridor
The Harvard Gazette
Thursday, February 12, 2009
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/02/student-work-lights-up-mass-hall-corridor/
Thursday, February 12, 2009
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/02/student-work-lights-up-mass-hall-corridor/
