Pictured: Jack Davis’ “Chasing the Bull Market” published in The Wall Street Journal

Popular culture and art have a way of becoming so ubiquitous that their merits go largely unnoticed. A film like The Avengers often fails to elicit consideration of the massive, talented staff of artists involved in its production; or, someone can go a lifetime without realizing their familiarity with two dozen Beatles songs or the band’s role in transforming the modern recording process. With the “Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture” exhibit that opened last Friday at Ringling College’s Basch Visual Arts Center, Tim Jaeger, the newly appointed Director of Galleries and Chief Curator, hopes to show that even pop art warrants admiration for its technical proficiency and its cultural impact.

Jack Davis, one of the founders of Mad Magazine, is arguably one of the most prolific, influential and well-known illustrators of all time. His iconic illustrations made it onto the front covers of Time Magazine, educated an entire generation of kids about politics and global affairs, and lined the racks of Blockbuster in the form of VHS covers. “Jack Davis was the pinnacle of what every illustrator wanted to be,” says Jaeger, who himself was heavily influenced by Davis. His signature style–the spindly body, pointy feet and outsized heads bursting with life and color–was everything a cartoon should be: fun.

Because of the sometimes-silly and always-satirical nature of his work, the mastery of his penmanship and skills with water color have been overlooked. “To my knowledge, this is the first time his work is getting a gallery treatment,” says Jaeger, “and once you frame his work and put a description under it, it really forces you to stop and admire it more closely.” Along with magazine-sized prints and original mock-ups, the gallery features enormous prints of select illustrations that showcase just how rich Davis’s work was, from the meticulous dotting of texture on a football to the lush colorations of grease stains on a mechanic’s jumpsuit.

The exhibit runs through December 6th, with a panel discussion on November 14th that will explore Jack Davis’s unique place in the visual lexicon of American culture. 

Pictured: Jack Davis’ “Chasing the Bull Market” published in The Wall Street Journal

More at the galleries.