Trailblazing Cartoonist Paul Pope’s Art Exhibit Opens This June at New York’s Philippe Labaune Gallery
Curated in Collaboration with Felix Comic Art, The Show Features Work From Batman: Year 100, Battling Boy, THB, Heavy Liquid, and More
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June 4, 2025 – This June, New York City’s renowned Philippe Labaune Gallery will host a career-spanning exhibit of work by acclaimed artist, designer and Eisner-award winning cartoonist Paul Pope. Created in collaboration with Felix Comic Art, the exhibit will present original pieces from seminal comics, including Batman: Year 100, Battling Boy, THB, Heavy Liquid, alongside homages to European artists such as Hugo Pratt and Moebius, commercial art including illustrations for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and The Grateful Dead, and Pope’s personal works.
“Paul Pope is a singular force in contemporary comics — a comics destroyer, who pushes the boundaries of traditional comic art, “ said Philippe Labaune. “His distinctive style brings together the dynamism of Japanese manga with the narrative depth of European Bande Dessinee, and the spirit of American pulp. Pope blends a manga awareness with a European attention to mood and form. Moebius, Hugo Pratt, and Enki Bilal are all clear touchstones.”
Like those iconic artists, Pope is more interested in evoking a feeling than hitting plot points. “When I do something, I want it to be timeless,” says Pope. “I don’t want to chase the zeitgeist—I want to create something that will feel relevant in 10 or 20 years.”
The exhibition coincides with the release of Pulp Hope 2: The Art of Paul Pope, a comprehensive 300+ page art book published by BOOM! Studios. This volume offers an expansive look into Pope’s artistic journey, featuring previously unpublished works, personal sketches, and insightful commentary that illuminate his creative process and influences. It serves as both a retrospective and a testament to his enduring legacy on comics.
“Pope has consistently oscillated between high and low culture, East and West, traditional draftsmanship and a punk-rock sensibility,” said Philippe Labaune. “Trained in printmaking and painting, and possessing adept technical skills as well as a breadth of knowledge that would rival any classically trained art historian, Pope’s stories, often set in dystopian or mythic worlds, are deeply personal explorations of identity, rebellion, and survival.”
| The Paul Pope Exhibit will be open to the public from Thursday, June 19th until Saturday, July 26th. There will be an opening reception on June 19 from 6 PM to 9 PM. |
About Philippe Labaune Gallery:
Established by Philippe Labaune in 2021 in New York City, Philippe Labaune Gallery is the first contemporary art gallery in the United States specializing in high-end narrative art and illustration. The gallery set itself a course to highlight graphic design through showcasing the work of artists whose commonality is to explore new territories and de-compartmentalize the borders separating various modes of expression: illustration, painting, comic strips, and animation. The pivotal contributions of narrative artists in such cultural domains are showcased through a carefully curated collection spotlighting the convergence between fine art and comic illustration.
About Paul Pope:
Paul Pope is an American artist/designer living and working in New York City. He has been working primarily in comics and screenprinting since the early ’90s, but has also done a number of projects with Italian fashion label Diesel Industries and, in the US, with DKNY. His recent collaboration with Errolson Hugh/Acronym for Nike’s AF1 debuted spring 2017. His media clients include LucasArts, NBC, Disney, Cartoon Network, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Conde-Naste, Kodansha (Japan), Sapporo (Japan), Dargaud Editions (France), EMI Canada, The Grateful Dead Estate, and The British Film Institute. His iconic Batman: Year 100, a science fiction take on the classic Batman origin tale, appears frequently on many Top 10 Batman story lists. In 2010 Pope was recognized as a Master Artist by the American Council Of The Arts. His short science fiction comic strip Strange Adventures (DC Comics)–an homage to the Flash Gordon serials of the ’30s– won the coveted National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award for Best Comic Book of the year. He has won 5 Eisners to date. His latest book, Battling Boy, debuted at #1 on the New York Times best-seller list, his third book to hit the NYT Top 10.
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