West Bend, WI  – The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) announces the opening of Wisconsin Funnies: Fifty Years of Comics, its first major exhibition following a three-month closure due to COVID-19.

This exhibition presents the rich history of comics in Wisconsin as it explores the major themes, innovations, and publications that characterize the state’s contributions to comic culture.

The exhibition opens on August 8 with opening weekend activities including food trucks and artist commentary and remains on view through November 22, 2020.

“This exhibition introduces some much-needed laughs into 2020,” said Associate Curator of Contemporary Art J Tyler Friedman. “But the works also show the serious side of comics as a medium for political protest and a platform for marginalized voices.”

Wisconsin Funnies is MOWA’s first exhibition on view in multiple museum locations. The West Bend flagship museum presents a comprehensive overview of comics in Wisconsin including underground comics (a.k.a. “comix”) and the lively Madison scene including artwork by 2019 MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Lynda Barry, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Creativity at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The museum’s downtown Milwaukee outpost, MOWA | DTN, located within Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel highlights politically-themed comics. The exhibited works include graphic novels, alternative newspapers from the 1970s, a comic book commissioned by the Wisconsin Department of Justice for high school students, and multi-page stories by Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s longtime (1967-1991) editorial cartoonist Bill Sanders.