Molly Zuckerman-Hartung

"Comic Relief is the first ever monograph of the work of artist Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, reviewing over fifteen years of her art and life. Created as a catalogue for a survey exhibition of Zuckerman-Hartung at the Blaffer Art Museum, the book acts as both a record of the exhibition and Zuckerman-Hartung's wide-ranging body of work, from her involvement in the underground feminist punk scene, Riot Grrrl, to her work as a painter and creator of layered, multimedia objects. Playfully engaging the aesthetic details of Riot Grrrl zines and vintage feminist theory texts, the book is an art object in its own right as well as an exploration, record, and celebration of the artist's work. Taken as a whole, Comic Relief presents the art historical intersections within Zuckerman-Hartung's practice, the enduring cultural and aesthetic implications of radical feminism, the history of the Riot Grrrl movement, as well as broader questions about the current landscape of contemporary art, queer aesthetics, and abstract painting. In addition to dozens of images, many of which are in print for the first time, the book features a forward by Baffler Art Museum's Director Steven Matijcio and writing from Dr. Kate Nesin, a leading postwar sculpture historian; Lisa Darms, archivist and scholar on the legacies of the Riot Grrrl movement; Annie Bielski, artist and former student of Zuckerman-Hartung; and Tyler Blackwell, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator"--