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Molly Crabapple

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Molly Crabapple
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Artist, Entrepreneur
mollycrabapple.com

Molly Crabapple (1983- ) is an American artist, author and entrepreneur.

Born Jennifer Caban in Far Rockaway, New York, Crabapple began her art career doing covers for the pornographic newspaper SCREW Magazine. She has since illustrated for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Marvel Comics and Playgirl. The AP Wire once compared her work to "limerick shared amongst good company in a Victorian parlor." She is also the author (with John Leavitt) of The Official Dr. Sketchy's Rainy Day Colouring Book.

Drawing on past experience as an artists model, Crabapple founded Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School in Brooklyn in 2005. Dr. Sketchy's is a burlesque life-drawing class. It has since been covered in NPR, Washington Post, Onion AV Club, LA Times, BBC, Time Out London, Time Out New York, and hundreds of other media outlets around the world. Starting in July 2006, Dr. Sketchy's began opening branches in other cities. There are now 50 Dr. Sketchy's around the world.

Molly Crabapple lives in Brooklyn.

Artiste's Statement

I learned to draw in a Parisian bookstore. My pen and ink technique comes from hours spent copying Alice in Wonderland and A Tart’s Progess. I soon fell in love with the feel of making ink lines- the crackle of the paper, the scratch of the pen nib, the sensual pleasure in drawing a curve.

Back in New York I came across the subject most dear to my heart - artifice. As a model, I work in an industry where girls turn their bodies into art objects. It’s a beauty doubly poignant because it’s so short-lived. Most girls won’t last past thirty. My time as a burlesque dancer showed me plain women emerging from the club’s dressing room as goddesses. Through paint, feathers and pasties, they made themselves gorgeous. It’s beauty as a garment, a shell, a mask.

In the two time periods I draw from most in my work- Victorian England and Rococo France- people tried to make their entire public lives as artificial as a burlesque dancer’s face. My characters, bewigged aristocrats and corseted ladies, are creatures of the polished surface. They’re molded by ornament- their corsets and cage skirts- and sometimes trapped inside.

But as with any mask, there’s a face underneath. And the face in my work is smirking. For any mask, or mask like society, has a weakness. If you want to crack it, you only have to laugh. Thus, my characters have arched brows and sarcastic smiles. They want to let you in on a secret. It’s all terribly silly, isn’t it?

Awards

Honorable Mention. Going Underground Juried Show. Art at Large. 8/06
Honorable Mention. New Erotix Juried Erotic Art Show. Art at Large. 7/05

Solo Exhibitions

2008
Demimonde. Arena Studios. 2/08

2007
Peepshow: The Art of Molly Crabapple. Trinity Art Gallery. 1/07

2006
Licentious Behavior. Perihelion Arts. 5/06
Tarts and Flowers- A Valentines Day Show. Jigsaw Gallery. 2/06

2005
Ink! Babes! Irony!-Molly Crabapple Says Goodbye to Pen and Ink. Jigsaw Gallery. 2/05

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008
DEEP POP. Kenneth Chapman Gallery. 1/08
Pop Subversion. Ad Hoc Arts. 2/08
Two Person Show w/ Genevive Zacconi. Ad Hoc Arts. 8/08

2007
Fountain Art Fair. (during Art Basel Miami). 12/07
Home Sweet Home. Crybaby Gallery. 12/07
Masquerade. Dabora Gallery. 10/07
DECK. A Show of Skateboard Art. Pravus Gallery. 10/07
Naked Show. Bluespace Gallery. 9/07
Carnival. MF Gallery. 8/07
Seven Brides Electrified. Jail Gallery. 4/07
Ladies Only Show. Crybaby Gallery. 4/07
Don't Say MF. MF Gallery. 2/07
The Erotic Show. Trinity Art Gallery. 2/07

2006
The Drawing Show. Perihelion Arts. 11/06
Eye Candy. Trinity Art Gallery. 10/06
Paper Doll Show. Trunk Space. 10/06
Going Underground. Art at Large. 8/06
Dirty Detroit Summer Show. 8/06
Betty Does Veronica. Femina Potens. 6/06
Sex Worker Visions. Gallery exhibit organized by Spread magazine. Location TBA. 4/06
Native Spirit. Supreme Trading. Show curated by David Gibson. 3/06
Girls! Girls! Girls! MF Gallery 2/06
Dirty Detroit Erotic Art Fair 2/06
Victorian Rhapsodies. (Three Person Show) Toyroom Gallery. 1/06
Spin. CVB Space. 1/06

2005
Grope Show. Zito Studio/Gallery. 12/05
Broads on the Bowery. CBGB’s Gallery 313. 10/05
Cannibal Flower. Los Angeles. 9/05
Werwolf Bongo Party. DVA Gallery. Chicago. 10/05
Halloween Show. MF Gallery. 10/05
Untitled. Bluespace Gallery. 10/05
Cannibal Flower. Los Angeles. 8/05
BlueShow. BlueSpace Gallery. (Los Angeles). 7/05
Exquisite Corpse . Toyroom Gallery. ( Sacramento ) 10/05
Our Own Show. Museum of American Illustration. 9/05
New Erotix- the Third Annual Juried Erotic Art Show. Art at Large Gallery. 7/05
The Mermaid Show. Coney Island Museum . 6/05
The Smut Show. Green Door Gallery. ( Kansas City ) 5/05
Propaganda. Encrypt Gallery at Columbia University . 4/05
Patterns and More Patterns. Bamboo Lane Gallery . ( Los Angeles ) 4/05
Dirty Detroit Erotic Art Fair 2/05

2004
Lower East Side Festival of the Arts 8/03
The Hip Hop Show, Asterisk Art Project 4/04
Self Portraits, Theater for the New City 3/04
The Writer as Visual Artist, Theater for the New City 2/04
Terrible Toy Fair, CBGB 313 Gallery 1/04

2003
Queer Artists Talk Back, The DUMBA Collective.10/03
The DUMBO Festival of the Arts 10/03
The Lower East Side Festival of the Arts 8/03
“ Visions of New York” Antique Café/Gallery 7/03 (solo)
Resistance, a Festival of Peace, Theater for the New City 4/03

Education

Fashion Institute of Technology (A.A.S. Illustration)

Memberships

Society of Illustrators (Artist Member)

Here! Network Podcast w/Jon Leavitt
Richmond Style Weekly
AP Wire
Jewcy.com
Gothamist Interview

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