Recidivist IV
Since leaving the legendary band, Low, Zak Sally is better known for his comic, Sammy the Mouse, and his story collection, Like a Dog (Fantagraphics). These don’t compare to his two-time Eisner Award nominated series, Recidivist. Recidivist IV, a Best American Comics Notable Comic, is his masterpiece. The stories in Recidivist IV concern the life of an artist, and the art of making a life, moving through the despair of obscurity to the integrity and freedom within it. Printed in a six-color, metallic process, some text and figures are only visible in light, some only in shadow. As CBR writes, this “a comic that forces you to engage with it but rewards you with its tightrope act, as the reading experience and the content cohere into a breathtaking whole.” In addition to his renown as an artist and musician, Zak Sally operates La Mano 21 press, publishing artists including John Porcellino. He has curated exhibitions, served as United States liaison to the Pierre Feuille Ciseaux, formed an experimental art school (Schoolhaus) and founded the AUTOPTIC festival in Minneapolis. Sally currently teaches at MCAD. His reach and audience are expansive. Zak Sally will tour North America in support of Recidivist IV.
Zak Sally is a cartoonist, printmaker, publisher, musician and educator. He self-published his first comic zine on a photocopier at the age of thirteen. He is best known for his book, Like a Dog (Fantagraphics), and his two comics series, Sammy the Mouse and Recidivist, the third volume of which received two Eisner Award nominations. In addition to his comics work, he played bass in the minimal rock band, Low. He is a native of Duluth, Minnesota, and currently owns and operates his own press, La Mano 21, in Minneapolis. La Mano serves as a publisher for Sally’s works as well as those of other comic artists including John Porcellino (From Lone Mountain) and William Schaff. Sally has designed and drawn record covers, posters, zines, illustrations, and comics on an international platform for over twenty years. He has also curated gallery exhibitions, served as the United States liaison to the PFC (an international experimental comics residency/think tank based in France), formed an experimental art school (Schoolhaus, with Dan Ibarra), and is one of the eight organizers, board members, and founders of AUTOPTIC, a bi-yearly festival of independent culture in Minneapolis. Sally has been teaching at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design since 2007. His current ongoing projects include the completion of Sammy the Mouse and a comics biography of author Philip K. Dick.
