Charles Burns
Horror Around the Corner
7 to 10 June 2012
Opening hours: Thu noon–7 p.m., Fri/Sat 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Altstadtmarkt

Charles Burns was born in Washington, D.C. in 1955. After living in Seattle and Philadelphia, he traveled to Italy where for a while he was part of the group “Valvoline” that included artists such as Lorenzo Mattotti and Igort. Art Spiegelman’s and Françoise Mouly’s exceptional comics magazine “RAW” was a stepping stone for him. He became well-known with the series “El Borbah” for the magazine “Heavy Metal”. This crime story about a detective in a wrestling costume already showcased Charles Burns’ cryptic worldview. Abnormities that seem almost normal frolic in an environment that is most often reminiscent of small-town America; the macabre appears as well as the gruesome and in this company seems almost natural. Charles Burns describes the dark side behind idyllic American facades. He holds a distorting mirror up to his audience that deforms it to recognition. Horror lives right around the corner …