A well-known cartoonist is in town to share the ideas behind his work.
Ed Piskor, most recognized for his novel that was listed on Washington Post’s Top 10 Graphic Novels of 2013 — “Hip Hop Family Tree” — will present at the Civic Media Center at 7 p.m. today.
He will speak about his comics, which he said intertwine hip-hop with comic culture.
Piskor grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and honed his artistic skills at the Kubert School in New Jersey, which specializes in cartooning and graphic art.
Piskor said he differs from other comic artists because of the culture he portrays in his work.
“I have a big interest in subversive, underground culture,” he wrote in an email, “and hip hop fits neatly into this description, at least in it’s earliest forms.”
Tom Hart, director of local comic school Sequential Artists Workshop, said Piskor was in town to teach a weeklong class at the downtown studio.
“It’s an interesting merging of two histories,” Hart said of Piskor’s work.
Hart said he’s looking forward to Piskor’s talk for that reason.
“His work is really artful,” he said, “and it’s really got a verve to it that I think a lot of hip-hop culture really gets into.”
Alligator staff writer Kathryn Varn contributed to this report.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 3/13/2015 under the headline “Popular cartoonist coming to Gainesville”]
