American cartoonist and fine artist
Barbara
"
Willy
"
Mendes
(
;
[1]
born January 30,
[2]
1948)
[3]
is an
American
cartoonist, fine artist, and member of the
underground comix
movement. She is best known for her work alongside
Trina Robbins
on
It Ain't Me Babe
and
All Girl Thrills
. Although Mendes first created art under the name
Willy
, she later transitioned to the name
Barbara
.
Career
[
edit
]
Mendes worked in
underground comix
while also producing other work for exhibitions in art galleries around the
United States
. Her art is inspired by
Judaism
and
feminist
themes. She attended New York City's
High School of Music and Art
, followed by further education at the
University of California, Riverside
.
[2]
Mendes began her career in underground comix in the late 1960s. She collaborated with
Trina Robbins
and Nancy Kalish on
Gothic Blimp Works
, the comix supplement of the
East Village Other
, an
underground newspaper
.
[4]
Mendes and Robbins continued working together, publishing
It Ain't Me Babe
,
an all-women comic book, in 1970. In 1971, Mendes published
Illuminations
, which portrays more
psychedelic
work. She then stepped away from the comix scene and transitioned, adopting the name Barbara Mendes. Mendes claims that her "stuff was never raw and sexual ... It was about hippies saving the world through spirituality".
[5]
2017-present
[
edit
]
After completing a mural in a Sephardic Synagogue in Los Angeles, Mendes began to study
Torah
and actively practice Judaism.
[6]
Mendes later opened her own art gallery in downtown Los Angeles, where she paints brightly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, the first three books of the Torah.
[5]
Mendes created her own style of "Epic Paintings", consisting of brightly colored, narrative imagery displaying biblical stories and messages.
[7]
In 2017, a scene from Bruno Kohfield-Galeano's short film 'The Blinking Game' was filmed in Mendes' studio and features many of her paintings.
[8]
Mendes returned to comix in 2020 with the release of
Queen of Cosmos Comix
from
Red 5 Comics
.
[9]
The book combines her modern biblical narrative paintings with her 1970s’ underground comix work into a modern personal and religious narrative.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Comics
[
edit
]
- "Make Money, Sell American Seeds," in
Slow Death Funnies
#1 (Last Gasp, April 1970)
- "Oma," in
It Ain't Me, Babe
(
Last Gasp
, July 1970)
- "Ada," in
Insect Fear
#2 (Print Mint, Mar. 1971)
- "Take This Woman Comix" in
San Francisco Comic Book
#3 (Print Mint, Aug. 1971)
- Multiple stories in
All Girl Thrills
#1 (Print Mint, 1971)
- "Easy Come Easy Go," in
Yellow Dog
#23 (Print Mint, Oct. 1972)
- "The Hippy Wedding," in
The Someday Funnies
(Abrams, 2011) ? reprint of a story from the 1970s
- Queen of Cosmos Comix
(Red 5 Comics, 2020)
Editor
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"American Artist BARBARA 'Willy' MENDES; UG Comix & Contemporary Art Interview, Part III."
- ^
a
b
"Willy Mendes - Comic Book DB"
.
www.comicbookdb.com
. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22
. Retrieved
2017-11-29
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
www.MosserDesign.net, Mosser Design, Deni Mosser.
"Fine Art by Barbara Mendes, Judaic art, Jewish art, Biography of Barbara Mendes"
.
www.barbaramendes.org
. Retrieved
2017-11-28
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Estren, Mark (2012).
A History of Underground Comics: 20th Anniversary Edition
. Ronin.
- ^
a
b
Cruz, Nicole Santa (2009-11-30).
"Expressing Judaism with a paintbrush"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
ISSN
0458-3035
. Retrieved
2017-11-28
.
- ^
"Biography - Fine Art by Barbara Mendes"
.
Barbara Mendes
. Retrieved
23 March
2019
.
- ^
Richard Suertudo (2015-12-26),
ipi American Artist BARBARA 'Willy' MENDES; UG Comix and Contemporary Art Interview, Part I.
, retrieved
2017-11-28
- ^
"The Blinking Game (2017) - IMDb"
.
IMDb
.
- ^
"New IJOCA article on Barbara Mendes"
.
Neurotic Raven
. 3 April 2021
. Retrieved
10 June
2021
.