~ANDERS NILSEN/PICTURES of BIRDS/OPENING TO-NITE

ANDERS NILSEN – ‘PICTURES of BIRDS’ / SOLO ART EXHIBIT, BOOK RELEASE & SIGNING

OPENING To-NITE – TUES JULY 26, 2011 / 7-9:30 PM

the exhibit runs through AUGUST 28, 2011

NEEDLES & PENS – 3253 16th STREET – SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

featuring . . .
original pages, scraps, cover paintings and stray panels from his epic comic book fable: BIG QUESTIONS (Drawn & Quarterly)
see: PRODUCTS BY ANDERS NILSEN/DRAWN & QUARTERLY

Needles & Pens tell us: “Nilsen is going on a book tour for his recently completed 600+ page masterpiece Big Questions (Drawn & Quarterly) – and lucky for us, his San Francisco stop at Needles & Pens will also include an art show. Nilsen will be putting up original works in the gallery – his only gallery exhibit of the entire tour. In addition, he will be projecting a slide show and signing copies of his new book.”

FILE UNDER: wish I could be there !!


ANDERS NILSEN, BIG QUESTIONS, (Drawn & Quarterly) 2011.

from the press release:

Big Questions by ANDERS NILSEN is a haunting post modern fable and the magnum opus of Anders Nilsen, one of the brightest and most talented young cartoonists working today. This beautiful and minimalist story, collected here for the first time, is the culmination of ten years and over 600 pages of work that details the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe. A downed plane is thought to be a bird and the unexploded bomb that came from it is mistaken for a giant egg by the group of birds whose lives the story follows.

The indifferent and stranded pilot is of great interest to the birds – some doggedly seek his approval, while others do quite the opposite, leading to tensions in the group.

Nilsen seamlessly moves from humor to heartbreak. His distinctive, detailed line work is paired with plentiful white space and large, often frameless panels, conveying an ineffable sense of vulnerability and openness.

BIG QUESTIONS has roots in classic fable – the story’s birds and snakes have more to say than their human counterparts and there are hints of the classic hero’s journey, but the easy moral that closes most fables is left here as open and ambiguous. Rather than lending its world meaning, Nilsen’s parable lets the questions wander out to go where they will.