A Little Van History

I just opened my mail today, and a sticker with a photo of a van popped out of the envelope. The image above is a photo of the Fantagraphics van which was decorated by cartoonists (as you can see) in 1991 in Seattle. I was there.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I worked as an editor for Fantagraphics Books. When I joined up, they were headquartered in an anonymous suburban office in Simi Valley (just outside L.A.). But when I was hired, they had already had a plan to move to Seattle. Once we arrived in Washington state, I started making contact with Seattle’s art scene, especially through CoCA, the Center on Contemporary Arts, and its then-director Larry Reid. It was Reid’s idea to have Fantagraphics curate an exhibit of contemporary altrnative comics art. The curators were Kim Thompson, Gary Groth and me.

This is the cover of the catalog we produced for the exhibit. The image is by Dan Clowes, and the four inset images are by Robert Crumb, Doug Allen, Jaime Hernandez, and Pete Bagge.

I don’t know where the van came from. Did we have a beater for the warehouse, or did someone buy a “new” beater to be painted. I think the former is the most logical guess. In any case, the van was painted with cheap white paint to turn it into a canvas, and artists were given brushes and cups of black paint. Not every artist who painted the van was in the exhibit. A bunch were just in town for the opening.

Apparently the van lasted a few years after its paint job. I don’t know where it is now.

Here are the artists on this side of the van. I couldn’t really identify the ones on the back, and I don’t remember who is responsible for the little skull in the upper left or the television behind the passenger-side door. But the others are by Dan Clowes, Michael Dougan, Colin Upton, Jim Woodring, Doug Allen, Peter Bagge, Roberta Gregory, and Jaime Hernandez. It must have been a real sight to see this demented vehicle driving down Lake City Way in the 90s.

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