reviewed by Carli Spina
Hell,
Ink & Water: The Art of Mike Mignola.
New York: Philippe Labaune Gallery. September 19 - October 26, 2024. https://philippelabaune.com/show/philippe-labaune-gallery-hell-ink-water-the-art-of-mike-mignola
As a gallery
specifically devoted to “high-end narrative art and illustration,” the Philippe
Labaune Gallery in New York City was a perfect setting for Mike Mignola’s first
gallery exhibition. This exhibit featured a range of his work, while his iconic
work on Hellboy was well-represented through an array of cover illustrations
and watercolors of the characters. The exhibit also included many pieces from
his other notable works, such as a collection of illustrations and a watercolor
from Pinocchio: An Illuminated Edition.
Seeing this curated collection of Mignola’s works together underscored recurring
themes of his work, including death, the supernatural, playing cards, plants,
and the macabre, to name just a few. It offered a clear understanding of the
way that his personal style translates across media, from pencil sketch to
watercolor. Given how many of the illustrations are in black, white, and,
occasionally, shades of gray, the color work in the watercolors particularly stood
out.
For many Mignola
scholars and fans, the Hellboy art was a major draw of this exhibit and there were
several pieces of interest including his original artwork for many covers which
demonstrate his skill at character expressions, dynamic motion, and
composition. In addition to covers, his Hellboy characters are front and center
in the original artwork he created for a poster for the Art Bubble Festival
held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2017. The gallery had arranged many of the
Hellboy pieces near one another, which offered a nice way to compare them and
see recurring elements and approaches. Beyond Hellboy, his work with other
well-known comics characters also popped up here and there in the exhibit,
including Batman, Robin, and the Rocketeer, which offered a chance to see how
his art translates to characters that are not his original creations.
The exhibition
featured several pencil drawings of characters with plant elements in their
anatomy. They were quite a bit different than the other works in the collection
while, at the same time, very clearly in line with his style. These sketches
exhibited Mignola’s skill in bringing a character to life through a single
drawing and his deft depiction of apparent motion.
Mignola’s
watercolors were a true highlight of the exhibit. His use of color in these
pieces skillfully drew the viewer’s eye to specific elements in some works and,
in others, created lighting within the work that felt by turns natural and
eerie. While these watercolors displayed the same recurring elements seen in
his other works, their color and style made them stand out even among all the
other impressive pieces in the exhibit.
The gallery, in
conjunction with IDW Publishing, created a catalog for the exhibition. It
features images of art from the exhibition with the title and size of each
piece presented alongside it. Signed copies of the catalog were available at
the gallery and unsigned copies are available for sale elsewhere. It is a great
option for Mignola fans who were not able to visit the exhibit in person,
particularly those interested in seeing the watercolors from the exhibit. The
gallery’s website also hosted high-quality images of the pieces in the exhibit
that users can zoom in on, which is another helpful resource for those who want
to examine the pieces. Fans of Mignola’s work will be impressed by the range of
works included in this exhibit and those who were not able to visit the gallery
should definitely check out the website or the print catalog.
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