Geppi’s Entertainment Museum (GEM) presented several noteworthy exhibits over the years, celebrating significant moments in pop culture. When they hosted The Artistry of Amanda Conner it provided the opportunity for a playful approach, capitalizing on characters like Harley Quinn.
Highlighting two decades of Conner’s career, the exhibit contained 50 original pieces of art and 15 statues. Displays included her work on Harley Quinn, Power Girl, Starfire, Dark Knight III, The Flash, Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre, Batgirl (including an unpublished Batgirl cover), Red Sonja, The Big Con Job, Painkiller Jane, Vampirella, Jem and the Holograms, Superzero, Black Cat, Star Wars, Avengers Academy, Wonder Woman, JSA Classified, and Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special, among others.
Sculptures of Silk Spectre, the “Women of the DC Universe: Series 3” line, and original art she created for The Big Bang Theory episode “The Perspiration Implementation” were also exhibited.
“I have known Amanda and seen her for years at cons and she was always the loveliest person,” GEM Collections and Exhibits Manager Mike Solof said. “She was already an amazing artist and beloved by fans, but Harley took that to such a different level and to be able to present that at that time and shine a spotlight on her as the number one female comic artist was really an honor and a pleasure for me.”
Leading up to the exhibit debut, an opening party was held at GEM with Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti (Conner’s husband and frequent collaborator), and colorist Paul Mounts in attendance as special guests. Decorated with harlequin accoutrements, the party mirrored the flavor of the exhibit and Conner’s creative and comical style.
Conner herself was a fan of how the exhibit turned out. “Oh, I am loving it. I think it’s absolutely beautiful, the way it’s framed, the way it’s all laid out, it’s gorgeous. Surprisingly, I’ve never been to the museum before and I just want to spend a whole week in here and have a slumber party,” Conner said during the opening party.
“It looks fantastic,” Palmiotti echoed at the party. “The attention to detail is a very fitting tribute to Amanda’s madness all in one room. We already have a room like this in our house except it’s not this neat and organized and cool looking, but it’s definitely fantastic.”
During the party, Conner, Palmiotti, and Mounts mingled with GEM staff and invited guests as they enjoyed viewing the art in the exhibit, as well as the Alice in Wonderland exhibit, and the rest of the museum. “Amanda Conner is one of my favorite comic artists so I was very excited that GEM was hosting an exhibit of her art,” Gemstone Associate Editor Amanda Sheriff said. “During the opening party I got to interview Amanda about the exhibit and her work. She was enthusiastic about seeing everything on display and humble about her achievements. After the interview we took a photo together and she invited me to have a drink with her – a Harley Quinn-themed cocktail. Yeah, I got to enjoy a Harley Quinn drink with Amanda Conner at an exhibit celebrating her art. Pretty good Friday night, if you ask me.”
The Artistry of Amanda Conner showcased her talents on original comic art pages with some compared to finished covers, statues based on her art, and banners for her two covers on The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #46. Harley Quinn was featured on several pieces, framed in creative ways with vibrant colors that added to the brilliant eye appeal of Conner’s art.
Conner and Palmiotti chose the pieces for the exhibit and Solof collaborated with them and their assistants to bring the event to life. “It was my favorite exhibit for all sorts of different reasons,” Solof said before describing the exhibit’s design. “Being that I was basing it around Amanda’s incredible art, it made it easy and yet really challenging to try to present it in a completely different and unique way from anything I had ever done before. Because one of the main focuses of this show was Harley, I wanted to do something really crazy that I had never done before. That consisted of framing things, not in your typical square and rectangle, but everything was in a weird triangle. That was a challenge because I had to hand-make every single frame – about 60 different frames. As if that wasn’t enough I then wanted them all different Harley colors, so I had to hand-paint every single frame myself and construct it around her artwork. Really challenging, but it turned out beautifully.”
In conjunction with the exhibit, GEM created a companion catalog filled with images of Conner’s artwork. “The idea for the book came a bit late in the process of getting the exhibit ready, so time was crunched,” Gemstone Creative Director Mark Huesman said about creating the companion catalog. “Michael Solof and I quickly printed small 2-inch mock mini pages of all the artwork and then scribbled on blank pages the additional content like intros and indexes, and arranged and rearranged the pages on the conference room table until we got the right mix for the page count (in about 10 minutes). Then I had to find as many printed color versions of all the pages used. Though every facet of creating that book needed to be done quickly, I was very pleased with the results.”
With an introduction by GEM President Melissa Bowersox, the catalog provided depictions of comic book covers, concept art, sculptures, and interior comic pages. It also had side by side comparisons of original art to finished covers. It depicted a variety of characters, including Harley Quinn, Power Girl, Vampirella, Painkiller Jane, Silk Spectre, Star Wars, and others. It also provided biographical details on Conner, Palmiotti, Mounts, and their company, PaperFilms (a collaboration between the trio and Justin Gray, Frank Tieri, and Patrick Wedge). The catalog was available at GEM and was a great collectible for fans of Conner’s work.
The Artistry of Amanda Conner displayed her artist talent in an eccentric, colorful, humorous exhibit. Whether her fans were there to see Harley, Painkiller Jane, or Jem, they left with even more appreciation for her style.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few months, we’ll have retrospectives of some of the great exhibits and events held at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, which closed to the public on June 3, 2018 in advance of Steve Geppi’s donation of comic books, original comic book and comic strip art, and other vintage pop culture treasures to the Library of Congress. Items from his gift to the nation will be on display at the Library of Congress beginning in Fall 2018.
Other Installments in our Retrospective Series