Mary Fleener is a native of Los Angeles who grew up in a landscape of orange groves, backyard barbecues, Tiki motifs, and bad AM Radio. She started drawing and making things at an early age and was influenced by Ancient Egyptian art and the comics in the Sunday newspaper. She loves Li'l Abner (Al Capp), Dick Tracey (Chester Gould) and The Little King (Otto Soglow). Thanks to television, She developed a sense of the surreal watching the animation of the Fleischer Brothers and Walt Disney. She always harbored a secret desire to draw underground comics, especially after reading ZAP in the early 70s'.
In 1984 she became motivated to draw these kinds of comics, and received early encouragement from Robert Crumb and Robert Armstrong (Mickey Rat / Couch Potatos). She began self-publishing her own "mini comics", and started writing and trading with other artists who were doing the same thing. Her first solo book, HOODOO, (1988) was a 32-page comic devoted to the life and writings of Zora Neale Hurston. Some other comic projects of hers are Twisted Sisters, Blab!, Grateful Dead Comics, and Heavy Metal.
In 1990, She started reproducing panels from her comics and painting them on large canvases using vibrant acrylic colors. Her "cubismo" comic style was perfect for achieving a kinetic effect by using overlapping shapes and contrasting colors. Using fluorescent "day-glo" paints make the designs even more animated. Her work has been shown at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery (Los Angeles), LACE (Los Angeles), MOCA (Seattle), Laguna Beach Art Museum Annex, New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Rita Dean Gallery (San Diego), Sushi Gallery (San Diego), and Ducky Waddles Emporium, (Encinitas). Her illustrations have been featured in JUXTAPOZ #1, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, International Tattoo Art, and Pulse!
Mary Fleener is a native of Los Angeles who grew up in a landscape of orange groves, backyard barbecues, Tiki motifs, and bad AM Radio. She started drawing and making things at an early age and was influenced by Ancient Egyptian art and the comics in the Sunday newspaper. She loves Li'l Abner (Al Capp), Dick Tracey (Chester Gould) and The Little King (Otto Soglow). Thanks to television, She developed a sense of the surreal watching the animation of the Fleischer Brothers and Walt Disney. She always harbored a secret desire to draw underground comics, especially after reading ZAP in the early 70s'.