In the Land of Retinal Delights

In the Land of Retinal Delights, the Juxtapoz School logo design


In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz School is a summer exhibition organized and featured at the LAGUNA ART MUSEUM. The show is curated by Meg Linton and Mark Murphy has been chosen to design and produce the catalogue along with Ginko Press featuring essays created by Michael McManus.


In the Land of Retinal Delights, the Juxtapoz School Book Cover featuring Robert Williams


Exhibition Overview :
In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz School is an exhibition that presents the work of 150 artists and posits that there has been a huge, but unacknowledged art movement taking place in this country for the last 40 years. Since 1994, this ground swelling of lowbrow, surrealistic, pop, figurative, narrative work has coalesced and found a voice in the pages of Juxtapoz magazine published in San Francisco. This rag has become the most widely read art magazine in the US. It is an influencing force on the aspiring artists of Generation Y and the Millenials, who are now enrolling in art schools in numbers never seen before.

In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz School on exhibition in Summer 2008 and will available for travel to other museums. Exhibition opens June 21, 2008. The following artist feature is only a partial listing :


Camille Rose Garcia grew up in the “vanilla” land of Orange County where she discovered her rebellious roots and love for Disneyland and old film noir cartoons. Camille paints from self published manifestos, that report her critical analysis of failed capitalistic enterprise and fallen utopia. Her characters occupy creepy, yet enchanted, dreamlands that capture creative inspiration from Phillip K. Dick, William Burroughs, Henry Darger, Walt Disney and Punk music. Camille actively exhibits, so check her out at www.camillerosegarcia.com


Andrew Shoultz currently resides in San Francisco, after traveling the United States to find a suitable home. Andrew practices a tireless exploration of “Man vs. Nature” themes, constructing modern day icons that service the art viewer with large-scale mythology that communicate social and political issues. SF Weekly reports “It's true that many so-called experts -- including curators at SFMOMA and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and owners of major galleries in San Francisco and Los Angeles -- believe he may be the next artist to make the crossover from the streets to the gallery in a big way.” Andrew’s work is complex and layered, check it out at www.andrewschoultz.com


Anthony Ausgang attended custom car shows and demolition derbies, in kind thanks to his Welsh Father who was looking for creative ways to assimilate into American culture. It was at this time when Anthony discovered Ed Roth and his infamous “Rat Fink.” Anthony’s Dutch Mother introduced her son to opera, fine art museums and orchestras. Fortunately, Anthony met Robert Williams who introduced him to “Low Brow” where it was possible to sell art work and develop a consistent voice for his work. Anthony has been featured in many museums exhibitions and collections. Check out one of the major contributors to the “Low Brow” art movement at www.ausgangart.com


Chris Mars was an integral part of the famed indie band, the Replacements, that is the past. Today, Minneapolis, Minnesota based artist, Chris Mars is a surrealist painter who captures the spirit of the mentally challenged, the disregarded, the oppressed and the persecuted. Religious and politically inspired themes captivate us, as an uncomfortable collection of portraits look back to you, inviting you in to analyze their unfortunate circumstance. More and more you look within the painting and discover castle walls, that enclose you in this hauntingly beautiful collection. For more information on Chris Mars and his book “Tolerance,” please visit www.chrismarspublishing.com


Moira Hahn, once worked for New York’s famed artist collaborative and design company, the Pushpin group who featured the illustrative talents of Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast. Moira illustrated books and animations for the group before moving on to study Japanese art in Hawaii and Japan. Moira is inspired by Persian miniatures, Tibetan Thanka paintings, Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, Indian animal drawings and the guardian figures of China. Once all of these interests are mixed along with animae, sci-fi, and Tokyo pop icons, you end up with a colorful mix of god meets monster packed with supreme being surprise. Enjoy Moira’s inspired paintings at www.moirahahn.com

More soon, as there are many amazing artists featured at this exhibition :

Tim Mantoani Photo Web Site

Murphy Design was chosen to design Tim Mantoani's web site. Tim is a talented photographer who has an amazing eye for creative composition, especially when it comes to making professional athletes and celebrities look their best. Tim has helped me with all of my promotional images and image making for clients including Hanna-Barbera, Brandon Boyd, Chris Roberts and many other artists. Tim loves to photograph moments in culture that do not readily appear on the radar. He is a great talent and does a great job making photography look easy.

Featured below are some of Tim Mantoani's photographic images: Cuba, Lucha Libre of Mexico, Superman Festival and African American Rodeo. Enjoy. http://www.mantoani.com/

EXPO : Poster and Zine Exhibition 2

EXPO : Poster and Zine Exhibition, held this past Tuesday was a huge success displaying over 68 designed multi-page zines and posters. EXPO celebrated one quarter of inspired work created by thirty-four students who noted, “the class was challenging, a lot of hard work, but completely worth it, as the end product is probably one of my best portfolio pieces.”




Professionals from the local San Diego communications industry visited EXPO in the hopes of discovering new talent and inspired works. Jeromy Stallings, Ninthlink Inc., stopped by with some of his team and was impressed by the variety and scope of the exhibition. “I overheard many of the students celebrating their work and their creative energy really filled the room. It was a great event and I was happy to be a part of the event, I wish my wife could have been here tonight, she would have loved it.”



EXPO: Poster and Zine Exhibition was held in two rooms, the Art Institute’s main conference room and the computer lab. Mark believed that it would not matter if the schedule did not allow for use of the main gallery and felt that it would be more of a design challenge to create a gallery vibe in an every day class. Once the computer lab was transformed and all of the home-made goodies and food catering was laid out in the conference room, the school was transformed into a major gallery space. “Everyone really worked hard, elevated their work, and contributed something to the final exhibition. I was proud of everyone, and believe they realized the essence of the class, once they were able to see how EXPO all came together,” mentioned Creative Layout instructor Mark Murphy.


EXPO was the first “ever” class exhibition held at the Art Institute in San Diego. And when discussing the idea of the exhibition with students at AI and other schools, many of them thought that the idea was a great concept that should be implemented in all art-based institutions. “Every student should understand the essence of sharing their individual style and creative work with the community,” said Mark Murphy, the night of the event. Jeromy Stallings proclaimed—“Make it bleed! It is always amazing to see great work come from mentoring and teaching in the community when Mark Murphy gets involved. From web to creative art events, we have all experienced it first hand.”


Special thanks to all of you who made it out to the event.

EXPO : Poster and Zine Exhibition 1

The following is an exhibition of sorts to assist in the promotion of 34 students in a course that I am currently teaching, Creative Layout or Layout Concepts : My intention is to teach students how to self promote and get themselves aclamated into Public Relations Release for Fans of Culture and Graphic Design


EXPO : Poster and Zine Exhibition at the Art Institute San Diego.

Please join 34 emerging designers, Tuesday, March 18 from 5:00 PM to 8:30PM at the Art Institute in Mission Valley, as they exhibit innovative posters and mini zines in the first annual “EXPO: Poster and Zine Exhibition.” All posters and zines will display personal expression and self-promotional concepts originally created for this exhibit.


All 34 designers will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their work. Work will be presented in a gallery, room 267 and the conference room, both located on the second floor of the Art Institute of San Diego.


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Event Date and Time
EXPO : Poster and Zine Exhibition
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
5:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Room 267
Instructor : Mark Murphy