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In its last two years at the Lexington Armory, MoCCA Fest added a new and delightful element: a display of artwork from the Society of Illustrator’s legendary holdings. This year, with a new venue, they’re still planning an art display, this time of Special Guest Aline Kominsky-Crumb’s work; the exhibit opens April 11th at 11 am on the Gallery on the 2nd Floor at Center 548. Kominsky-Crumb will also be the subject of a spotlight panel April 11th at 2:00PM at The Matthews Room of The High Line Hotel at 180 Tenth Avenue and 20th Street.

Aline Kominsky-Crumb is one of the most significant artists to emerge from the underground comix movement of the 1960s and ’70s. She is a celebrated painter and cartoonist whose works have been collected in the graphic novel Need More Love.  Her collaborations with husband R. Crumb, have been published as Drawn Together: The Collected Works of R. & A. Crumb. One of the earliest women to distinguish herself in the world of underground comix, Kominsky-Crumb also served as contributor and editor of the seminal comics magazine Weirdo and contributed to the iconic titles Wimmen’s Comix, Twisted Sisters, and Dirty Laundry. Her work has been exhibited around the world.

Her first New York Gallery show opened in 2007 and was reviewed by Roberta Smith who wrote: “Her clenched, emphatic style echoes German Expressionist woodblock in its powerful contrasts of black and white, and her female faces — especially those of her thinly disguised surrogate, The Bunch, and her relatives — have a sometimes uncontainable fierceness. Consider ‘’The Bunch Her Baby and Grammaw Blabette,’’ of 1982, in which a monstrous rendering of the artist’s saw-toothed mother consumes the final four panels of the strip. (The Bunch’s name derives from HoneyBunch Kominsky, a character invented by her husband before they met.)”

Kominsky –Crumb’s latest show was a two-person show with her daughter Sophie Crumb and was also reviewed by Roberta Smith for The New York Times. Ms Smith wrote: “Ms. Kominsky-Crumb has been an artist since childhood. In the densely worked multimedia drawings here, she straddles the divide between high and low with an assurance, formal intelligence and lack of pretension that aligns her with David Bates, David Hockney, Marie Laurencin and Raoul Dufy, to name but a few. Inspiration seems to come from comics, caricature, German Expressionism and the “Real Housewives” franchise of cable television infamy.”

Art will be on display in the Gallery on the 2nd Floor at Center 548. The main exhibitor hall of the MoCCA Arts Festival will be open to the public on April 11 – 12th from 11:00AM to 6:00PM. Additional programming will take place nearby at The High Line Hotel at 180 Tenth Avenue. Tickets for the Festival are available to purchase online or at the door for a flat fee of $5 per day. Visit www.societyillustrators.org for more information.

Some details on the logistics of the new venue for this year’s MoCCA Festival have been announced. The show itself is moving to Center 548 on West 22nd Street, and programming will be held two blocks away at the Highline Hotel on 20th and 10th Avenue, a converted 1865 building that was once Clement Clarke Moore’s (Twas the night before Christmas) 17th century apple orchard. Programming will take place in the Rusack Room and the Matthews Room.

From the map it looks pretty close, certainly no father than any of the CAB/BCGF venues, which were also separate in days past.

It’s confirmed that Bill Kartalopoulos will be handling the programming again, great news as he is a great programmer whose panels have significantly enhanced our knowledge of comics past and present.

In addition, this year’s program will be sponsored by PrintNinja and be included with a membership. (Last year the program was a separate $5 fee.) 6000 copies are expected to be distributed and advertising opportunities are still available.

All in all, it sounds like the savings from moving from the historic and expensive Lexington Armory and other moves are being passed along to the attendee and that’s awesome.