Dame Darcy

Dame Darcy
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Painter, Illustrator, Filmmaker, Musician
Notable works	Meatcake
http://www.damedarcy.com

Dame Darcy (b. June 11, 1971 in Idaho) is an American alternative cartoonist, graphic artist, fine artist, illustrator, animator, writer, filmmaker, and musician. Her comic book, Meatcake, has been published by Fantagraphics since 1993.

Biography

In 1989, Darcy won a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute, where she majored in film and animation, studying with, among others, George Kuchar and Kathy Acker. During this time, Darcy began self-publishing Meatcake. While in San Francisco, Darcy formed her first band, Caroliner Rainbow, and produced her first independent solo music releases.

In 1992 Dame Darcy moved to New York City, where she worked as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist. In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles.

She has exhibited her fine art in both solo and group shows, in the U.S., Austria, and Tokyo.

Dame Darcy is now bi-coastal, calling both New York and Los Angeles home.

Art career

Darcy has provided illustrations for writers Alan Moore, Caitlín R. Kiernan. Poppy Z. Brite, Trina Robbins; and fashion designers Anna Sui, Jared Gold, CWC, and Coi Girl Magic, among others.

In addition to her long-standing comic book title Meatcake, Darcy has also released several graphic novels, Frightful Fairytales, Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation, The Illustrated Jane Eyre, Dollerium book and DVD (Presspop, 2007), and Comic Book Tattoo, a comic compilation illustrating the songs of Tori Amos, among other compilations.

Gasoline the graphic novel (released Oct. 2008) has an accompanying music release by her current band Death By Doll on Emperor Penguin Records also entitled Gasoline. Darcy is adapting Gasoline into a screenplay. Her next graphic novel is The Excorsisters, also to be produced as an animated television series. She's also developing an online game based on her illustrations. Her fine art is currently represented by Sloan Fine Art in New York City.

Her next graphic novel, Gasoline: An Environmentally Conscientious Rock and Roll Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tale of Witches and Family, will be released October 2008 by Merrell Books. A feature film is currently in development.

Music

She is also a musician and performer of unique and experimental combinations of bluegrass music, Americana, classic Expressionism and transgressive aesthetics. Her collaborations with Caroliner Rainbow, Lisa Crystal Carver's Suckdog, Rock Rock Chicken Pox and heavy metal author Ian Christe in Grouse Mountain Skyride have inspired members of the avant-garde such as Thurston Moore. Darcy sings, and plays banjo, electric bass, and singing saw.

Her newest music group is Death By Doll, whose other core member is Skippy Spiral. The band has also included Aaron Detroit and Seattle-based artist, musician, and designer Christopher Hydinger (The Music of Grayface, ARKADE, Palodine, the antenna project, Electric Chinese Orchestra). Death By Doll's now-completed debut album Gasoline features songs based on Dame Darcy's graphic-novel and in-development feature-length film of the same name, and was released on October 31, 2006, by Emperor Penguin Recordings. Performances in Buffalo, Rochester, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, Eugene, Olympia, and Seattle in October and November of 2006 were done in support of the album.

Television

Turn of the Century, Darcy's weekly television collaboration with Blessed Elysium's Lisa Hammer, lasted from 1996-1999, on New York Public Access. The pair created hundreds of hours of original drama and comedy in a German Expressionist style, utilizing New York underground personalities like Jennifer Nixon (aka Queen Itchie), Peter Moran, Bliss Blood, Banjo Pete, Miller Duvall, Secretary Jenny, Cynthia Mitchell, Patrick O'Clock (aka Patrick Hambrecht), Jasper McVain, Daisy Miller, Li'l Sweetie, Countessa Cinorre, and Duchess Daria (aka Daria Klotz), among others. The show also randomly featured celebrity actors like Thurston Moore, Courtney Love, and Tiny Tim in its Caligari-like featurettes. New York Magazine cited the show as the best public access show of 1997; it has since been released in a retail "Best of" Collection and is syndicated on public access stations across the country.

Dame Darcy has appeared on the dating shows Blind Date and Third Wheel. She was featured on the show Flavor Of Love 3: You Cast It!

Bibliography

• Meatcake (Fantagraphics, 1993–present)
• Frightful Fairytales (Ten Speed Press, 2002) ISBN 1580084648
• Dame Darcy's Meatcake Compilation (Fantagraphics Books, 2003) ISBN 1560975326
• The Illustrated Jane Eyre (Putnam Penguin, 2006) ISBN 978-0142005149
• Dollerium (Press Pop, 2007)
• Comic Book Tattoo (Image Comics, 2008)

Discography

Dame Darcy/Death By Doll

Gasoline (Emperor Penguin Recordings, 2006)

Tracklist

1. The Fall
2. Down Below
3. The Flame
4. Ladies Isle
5. Aqueducts
6. Gasoline
7. Towing Jehova
8. Greenfields
9. Indigo
10. Dot Dot Dot
11. The Stars Fall Tonight
12. October 31st
13. Flame Meditation
14. Lock Groove

References

• Dame Darcy at Lambiek.net's Comiclopedia

External links

• Official website
• Gasoline graphic novel
• Fine Art Representation
• Dame Darcy's band Death By Doll's Myspace page
• Dame Darcy's record label Emperor Penguin
• Dame Darcy's fashion