Re: Art in the sixties [x2]

Scott Solomon (ss341@columbia.edu)
Mon, 22 Jan 1996 21:54:13 -0500

[1]

On Mon, 22 Jan 1996, Wendy Thurman wrote:
> I am new here so I won't say much, but Elizabeth's above caught my eye. I
> live in Houston, and the famous head shop Oat Willy's in Austin is, I
> believe, where Mr. Natural originated (correct me if I am wrong). What is
> amazing is that the place is still open; still owned by the same guy. An
> Austin icon, if you will!
> Wendy Thurman
> wthurman@intergate.com

Scott Solomon:
I thought Mr. Natural originated as a comic book character drawn by Crumb?

[2]

Mr. Natural is a creation of Robert Crumb, seminal underground comix artist and
subversive. I don;t know about the Ausin connection--Crumb did most of his wor
k out of the Haight-Ashbury district. Other R. Crumb originals are Whiteman,
the print version of Fritz the Cat, and one character I think was called Flakey
Foont. An excellent documentary of Crumb's life (still going on) was released
last year on the art house circuit--we even got it twice in provincial Columbia
, SC. It was directed by David Lynch, if I recall correctly. Interesting them
es about the sixties from Crumb, who was involved intimately with the creation
of its imagery and iconography but never considered himself cennected to the co
unter-culture. He now lives in France, after leaving a house in rural northern
California.