Legendary underground publisher Last Gasp turns 40 this year and to celebrate, they are throwing a party and art show at 111 Minna Gallery.

The Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Art Show assembles a top-drawer lineup of artists – the haut monde of lowbrow.  Over the past four decades, Last Gasp has published hundreds of artists in the underground comix and kustom kulture, to pop surrealism and street art movements.

Opening night photos

Artists in the show include:
Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup Glenn Barr, Robert Crumb, Richard Corben, Guy Colwell, Ron English, Tony Fitzpatrick, Christopher Felver, Camille Rose Garcia, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Rick Griffin, Ed Hardy, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Carol Lay, Adrian Lee, Michael Manning, Chris Mars, Scott Musgrove, Junko Mizuno, Liz McGrath, Laurenn McCubbin, Mitch O’Connell, Annie Owens, The Pizz, Mark Ryden, Michael Rosen, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Dori Seda, Winston Smith, Eric White, Robert Williams, Attaboy, Aye Jay, and many more to be announced.

Writers, including San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane DiPrima will do a reading.  Design radicals GAMA-GO will produce a limited edition tee shirt for the event.

Last Gasp founder and publisher Ron Turner is available for interviews. Book covers, interior art, and other images available upon request.

Free and open to the public | (415) 974-1719
www.111minnagallery.com | Contact: Jay Howell  jay.howell@gmail.com
21 + over

About Last Gasp
Last Gasp is one of the largest and oldest publishers and purveyors of underground books & comics in the world, as well as being a distributor of all sorts of weird ‘n’ wonderful subversive literature, graphic novels, tattoo and art books.

Last Gasp was founded in 1970 by Ron Turner. Last Gasp’s first publication, Slow Death Funnies #1 came out on the first “Earth Day,” April 15, 1970. Subsequent comics included the all-women’s comic It Ain’t Me Babe, and Skull Comics. Over the years they have published, and in some cases brought to light, some of the most respected and talented artists working today, including such luminaries as R. Crumb, Mark Ryden, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Frank Kozik, Todd Schorr, Winston Smith, Spain Rodriguez, and Robert Williams to name but a few.

Ron Turner’s enthusiasm for underground comics, and in particular their autobiographical aspect, has been the driving force behind many groundbreaking publications.  Last Gasp published Justin Green’s highly acclaimed confessional Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary in 1972, a book that became an inspiration to many artists now working in the autobiographical style. “Art Spiegelman, who won the only Pulitzer Prize for cartooning, has said he would never have started to do the autobiographical story of his family (in the graphic novel Maus) unless Justin had done it first. And Robert Crumb said the same thing,” said Turner.

Today, Last Gasp publishes 12-20 new titles per year, focusing on Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist artists, as well as graphic novels. The company has 18 full and part-time employees and is based in San Francisco. In addition to publishing, Last Gasp distributes for large and small publishers worldwide, providing a steady counter-cultural stream of books and other printed matter that spreads over six continents.

Last Gasp books have been glowingly reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Juxtapoz magazine, The Guardian (UK), Hi-Fructose magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Austin Chronicle, American Book Review, and The Los Angeles Times.

Co-publishing partners include La Luz de Jesus / Billy Shire Fine Arts, Porterhouse Fine Art Editions, San Jose Museum of Art, Grand Central Art Center, Smokemuse, JaPress, Moulinsart, Presspop Gallery, Ignition Publishing, NewSkool/Analog, Laguna Art Museum, and many more.

The readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian named Last Gasp the Best Local Publisher in 2009.

First publications:
Slow Death, 1970 (comic); Breather’s Guide to Invisible Air Pollution (book) 1970.

Legendary underground publisher Last Gasp turns 40 this year and to celebrate, they are throwing a party and art show at 111 Minna Gallery.

The Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Art Show assembles a top-drawer lineup of artists – the haut monde of lowbrow.  Over the past four decades, Last Gasp has published hundreds of artists in the underground comix and kustom kulture, to pop surrealism and street art movements

Artists in the show include: Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup Glenn Barr, Robert Crumb, Richard Corben, Guy Colwell, Ron English, Tony Fitzpatrick, Christopher Felver, Camille Rose Garcia, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Rick Griffin, Ed Hardy, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Carol Lay, Adrian Lee, Michael Manning, Chris Mars, Scott Musgrove, Junko Mizuno, Liz McGrath, Laurenn McCubbin, Mitch O’Connell, Annie Owens, The Pizz, Mark Ryden, Michael Rosen, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Dori Seda, Winston Smith, Eric White, Robert Williams, Attaboy, Aye Jay, and many more to be announced.

Writers, including San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane DiPrima will do a reading.  Design radicals GAMA-GO will produce a limited edition tee shirt for the event.

Last Gasp founder and publisher Ron Turner is available for interviews. Book covers, interior art, and other images available upon request.21 + over; Free and open to the public
(415) 974-1719 www.111minnagallery.com
Contact: Jay Howell  jay.howell@gmail.com

About Last Gasp
Last Gasp is one of the largest and oldest publishers and purveyors of underground books & comics in the world, as well as being a distributor of all sorts of weird ‘n’ wonderful subversive literature, graphic novels, tattoo and art books.

Last Gasp was founded in 1970 by Ron Turner. Last Gasp’s first publication, Slow Death Funnies #1 came out on the first “Earth Day,” April 15, 1970. Subsequent comics included the all-women’s comic It Ain’t Me Babe, and Skull Comics. Over the years they have published, and in some cases brought to light, some of the most respected and talented artists working today, including such luminaries as R. Crumb, Mark Ryden, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Frank Kozik, Todd Schorr, Winston Smith, Spain Rodriguez, and Robert Williams to name but a few.

Ron Turner’s enthusiasm for underground comics, and in particular their autobiographical aspect, has been the driving force behind many groundbreaking publications.  Last Gasp published Justin Green’s highly acclaimed confessional Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary in 1972, a book that became an inspiration to many artists now working in the autobiographical style. “Art Spiegelman, who won the only Pulitzer Prize for cartooning, has said he would never have started to do the autobiographical story of his family (in the graphic novel Maus) unless Justin had done it first. And Robert Crumb said the same thing,” said Turner.

Today, Last Gasp publishes 12-20 new titles per year, focusing on Lowbrow and Pop Surrealist artists, as well as graphic novels. The company has 18 full and part-time employees and is based in San Francisco. In addition to publishing, Last Gasp distributes for large and small publishers worldwide, providing a steady countercultural stream of books and other printed matter that spreads over six continents.

Last Gasp books have been glowingly reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Juxtapoz magazine, The Guardian (UK), Hi-Fructose magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Austin Chronicle, American Book Review, and The Los Angeles Times.

Co-publishing partners include La Luz de Jesus / Billy Shire Fine Arts, Porterhouse Fine Art Editions, San Jose Museum of Art, Grand Central Art Center, Smokemuse, JaPress, Moulinsart, Presspop Gallery, Ignition Publishing, NewSkool/Analog, Laguna Art Museum, and many more.

The readers of the San Francisco Bay Guardian named Last Gasp the Best Local Publisher in 2009.

First publications: Slow Death, 1970 (comic); Breather’s Guide to Invisible Air Polution (book) 1970

Ed Hardy, internationally renowned for breathing new life into tattooing, appears in person to discuss his art and life, as collected in the new book Beyond Skin (teNeues).  Hardy will sign copies of the book, which contains drawings, prints, paintings, and his newest pieces in porcelain.

This is not Ed Hardy the fashion line. This is Ed Hardy the original, whose artwork integrates iconography from classic tattoo flash and Hollywood cartoons to the Old West, from Asia and Polynesia to Medieval Europe. Hardy achieves beauty by mixing the grotesque, humorous, subtle, and flamboyant.

Beyond Skin is a scintillating overview of an artist who has tapped the pulse of our time and an ideal gift for all who appreciate the mastery of art that defies generalization.Phone for readers: 111 Minna Gallery (415) 974-1719

Phone for press (about the book): Anshana Arora (212) 627 9090 ext 19 <anshana@teneues-usa.com>

Phone for press (about the event): Colin Turner (415) 824-6636 <colin@lastgasp.com>

Admission: Free

www.lastgasp.com/blog

Book information

Ed Hardy

Beyond Skin

Text by Alan Govenar

Size: 10 x 12 7/8 in.

240 pp., Hardcover with jacket

c. 200 color illustrations

Text in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian

$ 98

November 2009

ISBN 978-3-8327-9352-4

To be published by teNeues in November 2009

Images available upon request

More about Ed Hardy

At the age of ten, Don Ed Hardy recognized the unique force of tattoo art. Growing up in the center of 1950s and early 60s California pop culture, he went on to earn an art school degree and then learned to tattoo by apprenticing himself to master artists. Over the past forty years Hardy has revolutionized this ancient tradition while also bringing fresh energy to the classical mediums of painting, printmaking and ceramics through his exhibitions across the United States and abroad. His technical brilliance and mesmerizing imagery have created an indelible style on skin and in the worlds of fashion and contemporary art. Hardy’s sense of design is at once startling, seductive, frightening, and enchanting, transcending categories of time and culture, high and low. http://www.tattoocitysf.com/

About Last Gasp

Last Gasp independent publisher and distributor of underground art books, unusual graphic novels, and subversive literature.  Last Gasp has produced mind candy for the masses since 1970 and was named “Best Local Publisher” in 2009 by the readers of the SF Bay Guardian.  www.lastgasp.com

About teNeues

teNeues counts among the world’s leading book publishers in the areas of illustrated books on photography, design, lifestyle and travel. www.teneues-usa.com