Exploring abundant joy in linework with Mark Thomas Gibson
“There's a certain type of drawer who's constantly looking for lines, who wants to see lines, who loves drawing,” Mark Thomas Gibson said, adding that that’s what initially attracted him to comics. He was in elementary school when he fell in love with his first comic, an issue of Wolverine by John Buscema.
Gibson still finds himself drawn to lines, but as he’s spent more time with comics his care for the genre has grown in its diversity. Beyond the linework and style, he believes comics are an essential way in which we can connect to others stories and offer our own. He sees voices, intention, and individual perspectives shining through his students’ work.
Mark Thomas Gibson delivers a lecture under the tent on the meadow. Photo by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).
Despite Gibson’s current adoration for comics, which started in his youth, he set them aside for a number of years. He described himself as a product of the 1950’s war on comics. Born in 1980, Gibson explained that war lasted well beyond the 50’s. Even in undergrad he resisted taking a drawing class “because drawing was the devil,” according to his upbringing. When he finally took the course, he fell in love fast, describing the experience as meeting an evil mistress.
When the dean of his department in graduate school visited Gibson’s studio, it was a drawing that the dean purchased. Gibson remembers questioning his decision, wishing he’d instead been more attracted to one of his paintings. The dean left the young artist with these parting words, “All this other shit doesn’t matter. These drawings, that’s it!” A tough pill to swallow, it took Gibson another two years before he accepted those words. Eventually he came around. Not only did his drawings attract viewers, Gibson also realized he found more joy in producing drawings.
This realization left a profound impact on Gibson and has transformed his relationship with both his creative practice and teaching. Gibson values the moments in the studio when he catches a student lighting up about their own idea. In those moments he asks them, “don’t you want more of that?” Over and over, he finds that when students are resistant to pursuing that spark, it’s because someone along the way told them “this isn’t right.” In Gibson’s space, he strives to get students back in touch with their own voice and grant them trust and access to the limitless joy that comes from using that voice.
Gibson insists that working from that place of enthusiasm is key to giving back to other artists. You can only give to others when you are feeling satisfied in your own practice. He admires the comic community for its commitment to this philosophy. Early in his career he sat down with a prolific comic writer at their house and the writer looked over his work. “He didn’t ask for anything in return, he just gave,” Gibson marveled. Evident in Gibson’s own life is this same generosity. Contrary to some other creatives, he doesn’t seem fatigued from teaching or mentorship. Instead, he delights in the opportunity to nurture their potential. He makes it clear that it’s not all encouragement, “I’ll question you, I’ll challenge you, but I always make it clear I’m on your side.”
This is the first year that Gibson’s course, “Considering Comics: Graphic Narratives in Ink,” will be offered at Ox-Bow. Students enrolled can expect to be guided by Gibson’s welcoming spirit, fervor for comics, and vast technique. His goal in every course is to equip students with a well stocked toolkit that will serve them well beyond their weeks on campus.
Headshot of Mark Thomas Gibson. Image courtesy of the artist.
Mark Thomas Gibson's (b. 1980, Miami, Florida) personal lens on American culture stems from his viewpoint as an artist, a professor, and an American history buff. These myriad and often colliding perspectives fuel his exploration of contemporary culture through the language of painting and drawing, revealing a vision of America where every viewer is implicated as a potential character within the story. Gibson has released two books: Some Monsters Loom Large, 2016, with funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts; and Early Retirement, 2017, with Edition Patrick Frey in Zurich. Gibson has been awarded: residencies at Yaddo; the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency; a fellowship from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Philadelphia; a Hodder Fellowship from the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University; a Guggenheim Fellowship from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York; and was named a 2022 Grantee by The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York. In 2023 Gibson had solo exhibitions at Sikkema & Jenkins Co. in New York and MOCAD in Detroit, and was included in the exhibition Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Gibson is represented by M+B, (Los Angeles) and Loyal, (Stockholm, Sweden). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Painting at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University and lives and works in Philadelphia.
This article was written by Shanley Poole, Engagement Liaison & Storyteller. The article was originally published in our Experience Ox-Bow 2024 Catalog.
Banner: Mark Thomas Gibson, The Boys, 2023, ink on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.
Carousel photos of students working in the studio by Dominique Muñoz (Summer Fellow, 2024).