Nutt's Frames (3352 N. Halsted [sic.])

In the 1960s Jim Nutt explored sequential art in its most accessible and popular form: comic strips, or the “funnies,” as they were once called. His focus on the framing systems of comics was an extension of his attentiveness to frames and picture mats (see Smart Museum 2005.16), much like H. C. Westermann (1922‒1981), an artist and expert woodworker with local roots who was important to the Chicago Imagists for many reasons, including his dedication to the craft of art. (See 2003.144.) In an idiosyncratic advertisement for Spione Frames, Nutt’s short-lived venture into the framing business, he undercuts the story-telling logic of multi-frame strips, disrupting the flow of the strip in every frame with visual gags and by repeating the message, a tactic used in advertising to reinforce brand recognition. (See also 2001.650-651, 2007.169.) Surreal humor animates glowing testimonials from a talking hammer, chatterbox teeth, and an eyeball. Nutt’s primary print medium is intaglio on small-scale plates edited in small editions—or unedited, like this intricate, practically indecipherable, etching. They are aimed at printmaking amateurs rather than mass audiences; yet visual pleasure derives also from reflecting on his confrontation with mass culture and, possibly, his sly critique of Minimalism. (See also the reverse print version: 2001.649.)