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Superheroes have left the Hall of Justice and have found a new home on the walls of Albuquerque’s Metropolis Comic Art Gallery.
Husband-and-wife team Michael Borin and Jody Masters opened the gallery, located in Old Town on the corner of Mountain Road and 11th Street. They said their goal is to feature comic book art and to create a community for local artists to learn new skills, practice and thrive.
”We both have a love of art and comic art and we like things that are a little out-of-the-box, so it was fun trying something no one else was doing,” Masters said.
Borin began by collecting comics. He would slab the comic, which involved sealing it in plastic and determining the value. When his father-in-law asked him why he kept comics he couldn’t read, Borin’s focus shifted from comics to comic art, he said.
“We had a long conversation and I realized for me I didn’t enjoy the comic interior so much as I enjoyed the art of comic books, the exterior,” he said.
The gallery features a new show every month. The previous show, Artist Alley, is displayed in the two back rooms, and the new show is in the front room. The theme until Sept. 5 is Gotham City, with the new theme, Japan Invasion, starting Sept 6.
Art in the gallery spans the mediums of watercolor, ink, metal sculptures, clay sculptures and 3-D art made from comic books.
Many artists from the East Coast and other countries are featured.
Borin said the local interest in submitting to the gallery is increasing.
“The amount of people submitting to get their art in here is increasing as more and more people are getting to know about us,” he said.
One such local artist is Victor Saenz, a web manager by day and artist by night. His piece “Bat in Captive” is on display in the current show.
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Saenz is also a member of Sketch-o-Holics, a local art group that posts art on Facebook for others to critique. He said having work displayed is an amazing experience for artists.
“It gives them a sense of validation,” he said.
The gallery owns about half of the art. While most art galleries feature art and split commissions with the artists, Borin said he found many artists in this genre are not used to doing commission splits, he said.
“These artists aren’t used to doing that because there aren’t a lot of these kinds of galleries,” he said. “Most of them aren’t excited about doing the splits.”
To be featured in the gallery, the art first must fit the theme.
After that, Borin and Masters decide how many pieces they will feature, and pick the submissions they feel are the best.
“Some of the art in our eyes is better than other pieces,” said Borin. “We’re not experts by any means, but we’re the ones making the decisions.”
While the art is for sale, many of the pieces don’t get sold right away. Borin said he attributes this to the average age of the gallery’s audience, which is around 25 years old.
“The problem with people 25 and under is that they don’t have a lot of disposable income and can’t spend $500 on art,” he said.
To make up for this, the gallery sells affordable prints and vinyl POP figures, which are collectible figurines.
The gallery also plays host to a variety of art classes, most of which are free.
“Our hope is to pull in the community together,” Borin said. “There’s a lot of smaller artistic groups around town and we’re trying to pull them all in to create a community that’s kind of based around here.”
Masters said she hopes to see the gallery grow, but she is happy to take things as they come.
“I’m very open. I don’t know what this is going to look like … But I hope we create a community that sees the comic genre as more of a form of art and not just this thing for kids,” she said.
