Great art? More like a Superman comic rip-off…
Here is an image featured on the website of a New Zealand art gallery, Centre of Contemporary Art (COCA). The image is credited to an artist called Paul Chapman who is lavishly praised on the website for his work.
“Superbadboy is typical of his practice and although on one level it is informed by humour, it is equally assumes political dimensions, regarding the rights of parents and central government.”
“Chapman rocks, his wit cutting and sense of image, brilliant, yet his aesthetics never try too hard.”
The main problem with this pretentious nonsense is that the idea isn’t his, the humour isn’t his, and the image isn’t his.
It’s taken directly from the witty cover of Superboy #75 (1959), drawn by artists Curt Swan and Stan Kaye, and illustrates an amusing and thought-provoking story in the comic book about the issues surrounding physical punishment and the discipline of children. And, of course, poor Pa’s difficulty in controlling an invulnerable son.
It’s also poorly composed, considering you can’t see Pa’s hand (or the hairbrush) to even know for sure what’s going on.
Then again, how many millions did Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein make from tracing the work of Curt Swan and Irv Novick? This sort of lazy plagiarism is nothing new in art circles.
You have to admit they did get one thing right in that description, though; this guy certainly doesn’t “try too hard”. LOL
BTW, if anyone’s interested in knowing the answer to Pa’s question (”How do you punish an invulnerable brat?”), you can hear the whole story at this link from my fan site:
http://nightwing.supermanfan.net/collectibles/leothelion_record.htm
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Roy Lichtenstein at least did changed things and had talent.
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“pretensious nonsense” is right. I hate it when “artists” take scenes from comics and put them out of context. It seems that they think that since it’s a comic book and therefore not to be taken seriously, it’s OK to blatantly plagiarise the image.
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Total rip off!!!
Curt Swan was the greatest Superman artist and these guys keep swiping his stuff and no one calls them on it…Amazing!
Thanks for posting this.
-L.
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…by the way, I like the new look of your site.
-L.
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hmm what lame “art”
Plus I can’t believe austrialian rules football guy paul chapman is such a crummy artist.
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ssheesh it seems some people take comics just as seriously as some people take art. For the record I am the artist Paul Chapman - & I’m not a pop artist! The review quote: “Chapman rocks, his wit cutting and sense of image, brilliant, yet his aesthetics never try too hard.” is not for this Superbadboy print - it is for a solo exhibition I did years ago with completely different work -my work - get your quotes right - I should know! But this is the joy of the net; things out of context can get further out of context! ;o) The image is actually from a vinyl record cover with stories about Superboy. My website (which should be up running soon) showcases my artwork, doesn’t even have the superbadboy thing as its not my artwork. The artist who did these comics were amazing & the line work incredible.
For the record Superman is lame.. I prefer Killraven from the Amazing Adventure comics - now that was way cool. And i don’t like Liechtenstein - Ed Ruscha is a way better artist!!! And the Aussie rules Paul Chapman guy should retire!!
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The quotes and the context are quite correct. The text and the image were copied and pasted directly from the Centre of Contemporary Art’s webpage featuring Paul Chapman’s “Superbadboy”.
It seems the Centre of Contemporary Art has removed the webpage from its website, so the link http://www.coca.org.nz/preview07.html no longer leads anywhere.
Fortunately I have the webpage saved in my own files.
Unfortunately it contradicts all of your main points.
The text is as follows:
*QUOTE*
1. Paul Chapman - “Superbadboy”
Screenprint, 50cm x 80cm
Paul Chapman is currently completing post-graduate study at AUT. He has exhibited extensively since the early 1990’s with a body of work that references popular culture and high art. “Chapman rocks, his wit cutting and sense of image, brilliant, yet his aesthetics never try too hard.”
Superbadboy is typical of his practice and although on one level it is informed by humour, it is equally assumes political dimensions, regarding the rights of parents and central government.
*END QUOTE*
Included is the “Superbadboy” image which carries the filename “Paul_Chapman_1.jpg”.
P.S. Talking about comics as being separate from art is erroneous.
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I stand by my comments as well: the original quote is out of context -as represented by the gallery & then yourself.
“But this is the joy of the net; things out of context can get further out of context”!
Yes what you copied in the first place was incorrect.
P.S I’m not aware that I talked about ‘comics being separate from art’ - that appears to be fiction on your part. Indeed I have a great appreciation of the artists who did these comics; hence my using this imagery for a ‘one off’ work.
My personal favorites being early Uncanny Men, & a comic called ‘Mr X’;
Also with the small image you obtained from CoCA’s website - it only shows a small section of my print- not how used it . I don’t mind people not liking my artwork, or being critical: but you should at least see the entire work instead of judging on small image on a website that contains wrong information.
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Nice article it interesting. Nice reading your article i like reading your blog.
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Your main flawed facts;
To be specific:
1/ Your statement: “The image is credited to an artist called Paul Chapman who is lavishly praised on the website for his work”. You use the quote from CoCA’s website “Chapman rocks, his wit cutting and sense of image, brilliant, yet his aesthetics never try too hard.” This quote is for another work. I have the newspaper jpg of this review - I should know.
CoCA presents this review for my Superboy print for their own ends -to sell the work. My initial posting was to correct their misinformation, which you have presented as fact. Do you always believe everything on the web?
2/ Your statement “The main problem with this pretentious nonsense is that the idea isn’t his, the humor isn’t his, and the image isn’t his”.
As I stated just previously - the small ‘snippet’ image you have used at the beginning of this post does not show the entire work: You indeed have never seen it - but this is irrelevant as you have extrapolated what you wanted from this ’snippet.’ It fits into your preconceptions about artists that use comic book images. I have never passed this print off as my own. Its not even on my website as I don’t consider it to be mine.
Discussion about appropriation of comic art is a valid one - My one off print paid homage to both artist like Warhol but also to the amazing artist’s who initial drew them.
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“Talking about comics as being separate from art is erroneous.”
“I’m not aware that I talked about ‘comics being separate from art’ - that appears to be fiction on your part.”
Here ’tis:
“it seems some people take comics just as seriously as some people take art.”
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Why yes i do think think people take their art too seriously - its a clear comment, the ‘erroneous’ comment/interpretation is solely yours..
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