The ASU Art Museum has unveiled an exhibit of heroic proportions.
The museum held the opening reception Friday night for artist Mark Newport's "Super Heroics" exhibition. The art consists of almost a dozen hand-knitted superhero costumes and 10 embroidered comic book covers. The costumes are based on well-known comic book superheroes like Batman and also include original characters, including Sweater Man and The Patriot.
Newport, also a faculty member in ASU's School of Art, seemed thrilled at the prospect of having his work shown there.
"It's very exciting to be ... in a museum of this quality and caliber," he said.
Newport said he began work on the costumes in 2003. He started with Batman, his self-described "favorite comic-book hero," and has been steadily working on the rest since then. Newport said the costumes were built entirely of yarn, except for the acrylic buttons that permit people to actually wear the suits. Each work took about two months to construct.
Newport said their creation was inspired by his role as a father of two young children and his parental instincts to protect.
"When my kids ride away on their bikes, I'm scared that something could happen to them because I can't watch them. I can't protect them," he said. "I [thought] about what other role models teach you about protecting somebody and that's how the suits pretty much came about."
These idealistic role models took shape in the superhero costumes Newport created.
John Spiak, a curator at the ASU Art Museum, said he brought the exhibition to ASU because he felt Newport was a unique artist who fit right into the museum's "history of showing artists that are dealing with identity issues and gender."
He added he felt that student introduction to these works could help get them thinking about superheroes in different ways than just as cartoon figures. The exhibit explores how exposure to these characters affects the development of masculinity and identity in American society.
The reception seemed to be well received, as numerous visitors filtered in and out of the gallery admiring the costumes and comic-book artwork. One of the most popular costumes seemed to be the towering, multi-colored and slightly ominous-looking Every-Any-No Man, one of Newport's original superhero creations.
Dannita Sewell, curator of fashion at the Phoenix Art Museum, said she liked that one the best.
"Its exaggerated scale draws your attention to it especially," she said.
She also said she was very impressed by the quality of the stitch work and the apparent knitting expertise that made the creation of such artwork possible.
"I think it's fascinating to start out with one single yarn that's however long and then you make something three-dimensional from it that fits the human form," she said.
Others, including Danny Orendorff, a humanities and journalism and mass communication senior at ASU, said Newport's use of yarn to make the costumes impressed him.
"It's so interesting to see a costume that's usually latex, spandex ... made out of a completely polar opposite material ... It's surprising to see these suits made out of something that your grandma would make you," he said.
Chris Murrell, a Tempe resident and one of Newport's students, wished she could see people actually wearing the costumes.
"I'd like to see them modeled. I think that would be nice ... if they had them on a warm body," she said.
"Super Heroics" will continue to run at the ASU Art Museum from June 25 to September 3.
Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu.
