Molly Zuckerman-Hartung | 'Comic Relief'

Images courtesy of Inventory Press

American painter Molly Zuckerman-Hartung has created her first museum monograph, Comic Relief (Inventory Press, Blaffer Art Museum), a collection of over twenty years of her art and lifestyle. The book explores over 100 pieces of her artwork spanning from her experience with the Riot Grrrl movement—an underground feminist, punk scene from the 1990s—to her paintings and work with layered, multimedia objects. It is currently being featured in the Blaffer Art Museum in Houston.

Zuckerman-Hartung is a 37-year-old artist known for pushing the boundaries in painting. Comic Relief presents her journey as an artist with abstract paintings and bold works from the Riot Grrrl movement. Zuckerman-Hartung’s experience with Riot Grrrl had a lasting effect on her artistic style, leading her to paint with a stronger creative resistance toward societal expectation.

The book also includes a foreword from Steven Matijcio, the Blaffer Art Museum director as well as writings from Kate Nesin, a postwar art historian; Lisa Darms, Riot Grrrl archivist and writer; Annie Bielski, one of her former students; and Tyler Blackwell, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator at the Blaffer Art Museum.

Comic Relief is available now and will be on view at the Blaffer Art Museum until March 13, 2022.