Peoria Artist Steve Rude Attempts a Return to Comic Books

To say ‘Steve Rude is an interesting dude’ would be putting it lightly.The Peoria-based, Eisner award-winning artist made his bones in the comic book industry during the ’80s and ’90s. Rude became a prolific artist through his work on the science-fiction epic Nexus with co-creator, Mike Baron, and employs a drawing…

Sarah Hurwitz’s “Meat Market” Wants You to Consider Eating Unicorns

Backyard chicken wrangling is suddenly very cool. Tattooed, cruiser-pedaling hipsters, NoPho lacrosse moms, and even teenagers (the sure sign that a trend’s become legit) are doing it. Spotted recently in uptown Phoenix: a hand-painted sign reading, “Fresh eggs from my happy backyard chickens!” Could backyard pig ranching be the next…

Kim Larkin to Leave Modified Arts in June

Come this fall, downtown Phoenix might lose another contemporary art space — Modified Arts Director Kim Larkin says she’ll be leaving the gallery on Roosevelt Row at the end of June. Larkin’s been coordinating and curating contemporary art exhibitions at Modified since community activist Kimber Lanning (who still owns the…

Greg Esser Takes on the Desert Initiative at the ASU Art Museum

Downtown artist, gallery owner, and contemporary arts advocate Greg Esser is back with another project — this time, in Tempe. ASU Art Museum announced that Esser will be associate director of the Desert Initiative, which will support artistic and scientific research into desert cultures and environments. Esser’s a natural fit…

A Sneak Peek at the One-Night Exhibition to Save The Icehouse

Hugo Medina’s not afraid of climbing the rickety scaffold in downtown’s Icehouse to hang the lighting for tomorrow’s show; he’s done it before … and hopes he’ll have the chance to do it again. Medina’s on a mission to raise money for the historic-building-turned-arts-venue in hopes of “saving” it from…

World of Rynaga: An Explorer’s Map by Eric Torres

Since we checked in with Phoenix designer Eric Torres in January, he’s been busy mapping Rynaga. Rynaga is Torres’s world — a narrated, illustrated environment he’s created for fantastic creatures with real life stories (think Tolkien, Homer, and Lewis Carol with a more comic feel). The World of Rynaga Explorer’s…

Phoenix Comicon’s Badge Art Contest Winners

Spiderman, The Joker, Juggernaut, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Is this a checklist of our favorite characters ever, or the lineup of the latest blockbuster crossover between Marvel and DC? Nope. It’s a sample of the sort of colorful comic book characters who will be adorning the beautiful badge…

Nine Must-Sees This Third Friday (May 20)

It’s Third Friday, and if you’re ready to fall in love with a piece of local artwork, take a Red Dress Tour down Grand Avenue, or peruse a few galleries in Phoenix, we have you covered. Here are a few shows you don’t want to miss. 1. Not a cloud…

A Nitty Gritty Reunion at 5&6 Gallery

​When Armando Rascon, Pablo Luna, Lalo Cota, El Mac, Brent Atwood, Harry Baldwin, Matt Minjares, Matt Dickson, Keith Knight, and Luiki are together in one room, it’s bound to be a good time — with some seriously good artwork. The group of artists were part of The Nitty Gritty — a series of bi-annual exhibitions from 1998 to 2003 that…

Pejazzling: A New Kind of Bling for Your Balls

Bless the British men, who — not to be outdone by their snaggle-tooth female counterparts — are busy popularizing the pubic art of the pejazzle. This week, Mark Wright, star of Britain’s trainwreck television show The Only Way is Essex, became the head, er, face of the pejazzling trend, which much…

Phoenix Comicon: It’s Coming

Phoenix Comicon, the annual comic book, anime, media, and gaming convention kicks off May 26 in Mesa. Stay tuned to Jackalope Ranch for interviews, must-sees, and must-avoids. And in the meantime, go ahead and geek out over the Con’s latest commercial…

Phoenix Art Museum Announces 2011 Contemporary Forum Awards

Last night, Phoenix Art Museum’s Contemporary Forum awarded eight local artists who’ve made a mark in the contemporary scene. The annual event recognizes up to seven emerging Arizona artists with $1,500 grants to purchase materials and one mid-career artist with $5,000 plus a special exhibition of his or her work…