Bobbee Pin Magnet

Karl Wirsum graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1961. After graduating, Wirsum travelled in Mexico, along with fellow artists Ed Paschke and Bertrand Phillips, where he found inspiration in the traditional Mesoamerican designs that he encountered. Wirsum quickly went on to develop his signature style, combining a bold graphic sensibility with a quirky sense of humor. His high-energy paintings typically feature vivid, flat colors; bold outlines, and a central, remarkably stylized figure. In this work the visual language borrowed from the bold and symmetrical designs he encountered in Mexico, as well as the influence of Pop art and comic books, can be seen.