Gary Panter is a cartoonist, illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix. Panter has published his work in various magazines and newspapers, including Raw, Time and Rolling Stone magazine. He has exhibited widely, and won three Emmy awards for his set designs for Pee-Wee's Playhouse. His most notable works include Jimbo, Adventures in Paradise, Jimbo's Inferno and Facetasm, which was created together with Charles Burns.
Biography
Panter attended East Texas State University, now known as Texas A&M University-Commerce, where he studied under Jack Unruh and where he was one of The Lizard Cult. As an early participant in the Los Angeles punk scene in the 1970s, Panter defined the grungy style of the era with his drawings for Slash magazine and numerous record covers. Some time around 1980, Panter's Rozz Tox Manifesto was published in the Ralph Records catalog, calling for artists to work within the capitalist system. In the 1980s, he was the set designer for Pee Wee's Playhouse, where he won three Emmy Awards. Prior to Panter's work, children's shows had a more lulling aesthetic: everything was round, "cute", simplified, and pastel. The set of Pee-wee's Playhouse was the antithesis of pablum-art: it was dense as a jungle and jam-packed with surprises, often loud and abrasive ones. While doing illustration and set designs, Panter kept up an active career as a cartoonist. His work in comics includes contributions to the avant-gardecomics magazineRAW and the graphic novelCola Madnes. Panter also created the online series Pink Donkey for Cartoon Network. He published Jimbo in Purgatory, and Jimbo's Inferno with Fantagraphics Books, lavishly produced graphic novels which incorporate classic literature elements with pop and punk culture sensibilities. In 2008, PictureBox published Gary Panter, a two-volume 700-page comprehensive overview of his work, including never-before-published sketches. In 2010, the French publishing company United Dead Artists, founded by Stéphane Blanquet, published two books on the work of Gary Panter: The Wrong Box and The Land Unknown.
Use by music artists
commissioned Panter to paint the album covers for the unauthorized releases of Frank Zappa's albums Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites. In 2006, one of Panter's paintings was used as the cover art for Yo La Tengo's album I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass.
Personal life
He is best friends with Matt Groening. From 1978 to 1986, Panter was married to writer Nicole Panter, who was the manager of the notorious Los Angeles punk rock band the Germs.
Style
Panter claims to have been influenced by among others, Frank Zappa's art director Cal Schenkel. His comics are fast and hard and are drawn in an expressionistic manner. His works balance the worlds of painting, commercial art, illustration, cartoons, alternative comix, and music. Panter undertakes all of his projects with imaginative punk flair.
