Filed Under: "exhibits"

THE MISCHIEVOUS ART OF JIM FLORA:  A Centennial Fine Art Retrospective, 1940-1975 detail, untitled tempera on paper, mid-1940s We’ll celebrate the Flora centennial with a major fine art exhibition at the Silvermine Arts Center, Norwalk CT, from September 20 – Nov 2, 2014. The exhibit, curated by Irwin Chusid, co-archivist of the Jim Flora collection, will feature dozens of rarely seen original paintings and a handful of new prints, most never previously exhibited. Flora and…

You can buy our fourth anthology The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora and browse the man’s legendary album illustrations between book covers. Or you can attend Jalopy’s similarly named exhibit and be surrounded by four walls of Flora. Those walls will be adorned with vintage LP and 78 covers, proof sheets, and oversized reproductions from our fine art print catalog. The Brooklyn-based club’s exhibit opens Friday June 13 from 6 – 8pm, during which yours…

One hundred years ago today, James Royer Flora was born in the quaint village of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Above, possibly making its first public appearance, is the artist’s earliest extant work, a pen & ink with pencil (or charcoal) entitled First Steps, dated June 8, 1935, around the time Flora enrolled at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Whether the work is intended to be autobiographical shall forever remain a mystery. To observe the centennial, we have two…

One of our representatives will be with you shortly. Your visit is very important to us, and we look forward to answering your questions. Such as: What’s up with the Flora blog, the website, and Jim Flora art in general? The paucity of new posts in recent months does not connote inactivity in the Florasphere. Here’s breaking news—and news which has previously broken: Flora co-archivist Barbara Economon and I have completed a new book—our fourth— for Fantagraphics:…

untitled tempera, early 1940s Flora biographer/archivist me (Irwin Chusid) will present an informal talk about the artist’s life, accompanied by digital projection of over 100 spectacular works from the Flora collection on Saturday, December 17, at Dorian Grey Gallery, New York. The wine begins pouring into cheap plastic cups at 4:00 pm, with the presentation starting at 5:00 pm sharp. Admission is free, but seating is limited, so arrive early. The event concludes around 7:00…

The Dorian Grey Gallery will host The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora, the first posthumous New York exhibit and sale of Jim Flora original art and prints. The exhibit opens with a reception on Nov. 19, and runs thru Jan. 8. The gallery, located at 437 East 9th Street (between 1st and A), will showcase significant works from the Flora family collection, covering the 1940s to the late 1990s. Offerings include temperas on paper;…

Shelf display of Flora kiddie books in the office of Cynthia Johnson, director of the Rowayton (CT) Library. The glass-enclosed office is nestled behind the checkout counter, so patrons can view the display. (The plush creatures are non-Floracentric, but companionate.) Cynthia is producing a jigsaw puzzle of a 1980 cartoon map of the town rendered by its illustrious Citizen Flora, a resident from 1946 to his death in 1998. The puzzle should be available soon…

To many who know him, our friend Takashi Okada of Tokyo is a talented graphic designer, music producer, historian, cultural connoisseur, cat lover, and gentleman. But unless you visit Takashi and his wife Tomoko‘s home, you might not know he has a deep Flora fixation. Takashi owns original art, album covers, Little Man Press artifacts, children’s books, and fine art prints. We’ve long known about Takashi’s love of Flora, but never having visited the Far…

We don’t generally post the work of other artists on the Flora blog, but we’re delighted to make an exception with Clara Gee Stamaty. Clara met Flora when they attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati in the early 1940s. Her late husband, syndicated cartoonist Stanley Stamaty (d. 1979), was one of Flora’s best buddies at school, and the couple remained lifelong friends with Flora. (Clara remarried in 1984.) To celebrate becoming a nonagenarian, Clara has…

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has mounted the first-ever exhibit of Little Man Press memorabilia in their Library display case. Although not viewable by the public without appointment, the collection features rare chapbooks with Flora woodcuts, a narrative chronicle, original pencil sketches, and vintage Little Man ephemera. (Click to enlarge the above panorama.) Designed by Flora archivist Barbara Economon with the assistance of WAC Librarian Rosemary Furtak, the exhibition deserves a wider audience. Interested…

Flora-related stuff on the web: Dan Pearson of the Pioneer-Press (Illinois) reviews the Lake County Discovery Museum‘s exhibit: “Flora’s Art is Full of Fun.” Story includes interviews with LCDM’s Steve Furnet and your Florablogger. “Scribbler,” based in San Antonio, blogs about Vintage Books My Kid Loves, including Flora’s Kangaroo for Christmas and Grandpa’s Farm. Flora illustratrations for “Will Robots Make People Obsolete?” Parade Magazine, 1959, posted at the Paleo-Future blog. And download some Flora WFMU…

… at the Lake County Discovery Museum, Wauconda IL. Original paintings and drawings, fine art prints, and Flora artifacts will be displayed, along with a collection of antiquarian Little Man Press chapbooks. Barb and I will be in-house for the opening reception, Friday evening, April 4. Flora books, prints, and merch will be on sale in the LCDM gift shoppe. The exhibit runs thru August 31. To find the museum, follow the signs on Route…