FROM 21ST MAY
HAVILL & TRAVIS GALLERY @ PRIMITIVO BAR & EATERY 10 BARWICK STREET, BIRMINGHAM B3 2NT
OPENING TIMES
May 24, 28, 30 (11am – 5pm)
June 4, 5, 10 ,13 ,14 ,17 ,18 ,19 (11am – 5pm)
June 20, 21 (11am – 4pm)
June 24, 27 (11am – 5pm)
June 28 (11am – 4pm)
THE EXHIBITION
Havill & Travis are very proud to present the first solo show by Birmingham’s Premier Comic Illustrator, John McCrea.
The exhibition opens to the public on 21st May with a private viewing on Monday 20th May. The exhibition is open Mon-Fri 11.00am – 5.00pm and admission is free. Original artwork and prints are available to buy with prices ranging from £90 to £4,000.
Work from throughout John’s long and illustrious career will be showcased at the exhibition, including original cover art drawings framed with the actual published comics, limited edition screen-prints and limited edition giclee prints.
Pieces include:
- Three new stunning Silkscreen editions of Spiderman.
- Giclee editions of Poison Ivy, the Joker and Black Panther.
- Previously unseen original art from 2000AD with Judge Dredd in the world of The Magic Roundabout.
- Original artwork from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, the Mummy, Warhammer 40K and many more.
During the exhibition John will be hosting Comic Art Workshops open to the public. Details will be listed on www.havillandtravis.com.
WORKSHOPS
As part of John McCrea’s first solo show, Havill & Travis are proud to announce a series of free Comic Art Workshops hosted by the artist.
For ages 12 and up, all abilities welcome. No booking required but space is limited so please arrive by 12.45pm for a 1pm start.
30TH MAY FROM 1-2PM
18TH JUNE FROM 1-2PM
24TH JUNE FROM 1-2PM
John will also be at the gallery on Tuesday 28th May and Thursday 13th June between 1-3pm, please drop in for a chat.
ABOUT JOHN McCREA
Born in Belfast in 1966, and resident in Handswroth since the early 1990s, John McCrea has drawn comics for over 30 years. His work has been published widely throughout the world, including with Marvel and DC.
In 1989, after a few years of drawing television and toy tie-ins, he debuted with the political series Troubled Souls, in Crisis, as well as its sequel, the farce For a Few Troubles More, both written by Garth Ennis. He later illustrated the series Carla Allison in Deadline.
He broke into American comics in 1993, drawing Ennis’s run on DC Comics’s The Demon, followed by its spin-off, Hitman, from 1996 to 2001, on which McCrea developed a versatile drawing style equally at home with goofy humour, action, and subtle characterisation. Hitman issue 34 won the Eisner Award for best single issue in 1999.
Since Hitman finished he has drawn a variety of characters for DC, Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, 2000 AD and others, including Herogasm a limited series spun off from Garth Ennis’ The Boys.
On 9 April 2011 McCrea was one of 62 comics creators who appeared at the IGN stage at the Kapow! convention in London to set two Guinness World Records, the Fastest Production of a Comic Book, and Most Contributors to a Comic Book.
In 2012 he started work on Mars Attacks! 50th anniversary relaunch of the ongoing comic, written by John Layman and published by IDW. He also contributed 15 new cards to the Topps MA! Heritage set and exclusive variants for the set.
While penciling and inking the MA! comic, he also found time to draw issue 49.1 of Deadpool for Marvel, Warpaint (written by Phil Hester) for UK based Strip Magazine and Progenitor (also written by Hester) for David Lloyd’s bold new online only publishing adventure Aces Weekly.
He returned to DC briefly in 2013 through their Vertigo imprint for an 8 pager (written by Neil Kleid) for their one shot Ghosts, followed by a Batman short story and a miniseries Section 8, based on supporting characters from Hitman. Section 8 also marked his reunion with Hitman writer Garth Ennis and the team’s return to the series.
Since then he has mainly worked on creator owned projects for Image Comics including Mythic, a Jack Kirby inspired fantasy/scifi adventure written once again by Phil Hester.
He has also drawn hundreds of covers for Marvel, DC, Titan and 2000ad including the Punisher, Deaths Head, the X-men, the Mummy, Warhammer, Dark Souls and the Vikings.
HAVILL & TRAVIS
Havill & Travis Gallery exhibits at Primitivo Bar & Eatery all year round.
Formerly in Harborne, Havill & Travis have hosted exhibitions from Brian Travers, Emily Sparkes, Erika Nockals and Hunt Emerson to name only a few.
TRAVEL:
There is no dedicated parking at Primitivo, however there are a number of Pay & Display car parks surrounding the venue. The nearest car park is on Livery Street and the nearest train station is Snow Hill.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
For all media enquiries please contact – info@havillandtravis.com