KARL STEVENS Bio
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
“Water,” Bad Habit, Provincetown, MA 2024
“Penny,” Room 68, Provincetown, MA May 2021
“The Winner,” Carroll and Sons, Boston, MA June 2018
“Summer’s End,” Room 68, Provincetown, MA September 2017
“ Four Portraits,” Carroll and Sons. Boston, MA, November 2013
“Failure,” Hallway Gallery, Jamaica Plain, MA, September 2013
“Recent Drawings and Paintings,” Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA, February 2012
“The Lodger: Paintings and Drawings from the Graphic Novel,” Carroll and Sons, Boston MA, June-August 2010
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
“Botticelli: Heroines and Heroes,” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston MA 2019
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
“Three Visions of Landscape,” Gallery 300, Boston, MA, June 2026
“Alternative Weekly Comics: The Exhibit,” Society of Illustrators, New York, NY, March-May 2015
“Karl Stevens and Raul Gonzalez: Two Artists and Their Books,” Suffolk University Art Gallery, Boston MA, December 2014
“Story/Line: Narrative Form in Six Graphic Novelists,” Bannister Gallery, Providence, RI, February 2012
“A Collection of Bostonia Collectives”, The LAP Gallery, Waltham MA, October 2011
“Holiday Group Show,” Carroll and Sons, Boston MA, December 2009
“Inappropriate Touching: Dirty Comics and Art”, Washington Street Arts Center, Somerville MA, January 2008
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Pepper, Toon Books/Astrahouse New York, NY (2026)
Mother Nature, Titan Comics, London, England (2023)
Penny: A Graphic Memoir, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA (2021)
Various Cartoons The New Yorker, New York, NY (2018-present)
Penny: A weekly Comic strip, Village Voice, New York, NY (2016-2017)
Failure: A Weekly Comic, Boston Phoenix, Boston MA (2005-2012)
The Winner, Retrofit/Big Planet Publishing, Washington D.C. (2018)
Original Graphic novel
MWD: Hell is Coming Home, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA (2017)
Written By: Brian David Johnson and Jan Egleson Illustrated by: Karl Stevens
Original graphic novel about an Iraq veteran.
Failure, Alternative Comics, Cupertino, CA (2013)
Second Book Collection of comic strips from The Boston Phoenix.
The Lodger, KSA Publishing, Boston MA (2010)
Nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Graphic Novel
Whatever, Alternative Comics, Cupertino, CA (2008)
Book Collection of comic strips from The Boston Phoenix
Anatomy for Artists, FW Publications, Cincinnati, OH (2007)
Illustrated Anatomy book for artists, written by Anthony Apesos.
Guilty, Karl Stevens Publishing, Boston MA (2005)
Winner of the Xeric Foundation Grant for Comic Book Self-Publishing
Nominated for the Ignatz Award for Promising New Talent
AWARDS
2016
Massachusetts Cultural Council, Artist Fellow Finalist for Drawing
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation A.R.T. Grant
2015
Blanche E. Coleman Foundation Grant
2010
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award, Cartoon, FAILURE
COLLECTIONS
Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge MA
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Columbus, OH
EDUCATION
Art Institute of Boston, Boston MA (1999)
Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA (1996)
SELECTED LITERATURE
Henry Chamberlain, Mother Nature, The Comics Journal, August 9th, 2023
Irene Velentzas, Penny, The Comics Journal, June 8, 2021
Natasha Seaman, Botticelli Through A Graphic Novelist’s Eye, Hyperallergic, March 2019
Murray Whyte, The Gardner, Botticelli, and #metoo, Boston Globe, February 2019
Cammy Brothers, Botticelli: Heroines and Heroes’ Review: Harrowing Scenes of Women’s Sacrifice, The Wall Street Journal, February 2019
Nina MacLaughlin, Graphic Novels Battle Between High, Low Art, Boston Globe, May 2018
Publisher’s Weekly, Review: The Winner, May 2018
John Seven, Review: Karl Stevens Is Actually The Winner Here, Comics Beat, June 2018
Irene Velentzas, TCJ Review: The Winner, The Comics Journal, May 2018
Natasha Seaman, Capturing the Quotidian in a Fine Mess of Crosshatching: Paintings and
Drawings by Karl Stevens, Hyperallergic, January 17, 2015
Tom Spurgeon, CR Sunday Interview, The Comics Reporter, December 8, 2013
Cate McQuaid Stevens’s Nimble Realism, Boston Globe, November 26, 2013
Rob Clough, Unreality: Karl Stevens’ Failure, High-Low, September 30, 2014
Wayne Alan Brenner, Are you headed straight for Failure friend, Austin Chronicle, Sep. 5, 2013
Douglas Wolk, Book World: ‘Failure’, by Karl Stevens, The Washington Post, July 17, 2013
Henry Chamberlain, Review: ‘Failure’, by Karl Stevens, Comics Grinder, May 14, 2013
Calvin Reid, ‘The Phoenix’ cancels Karl Stevens’ ‘Failure’ comic, Publishers Weekly Nov 2012
Tom Hart, Karl Stevens’ The Lodger, Sequential Artists Workshop, September, 2011
Noelene Clark, ‘The Lodger’, An art school dropout breaks the rules, LA Times, April 24, 2011
Douglas Wolk, Emanata: Life Drawings, Time Magazine, January 7, 2011
Tom Spurgeon, CR Holiday Interview #2, The Comics Reporter, December 21, 2010
Rob Clough, Hperreal: The Lodger, The Comics Journal, December 4, 2010
Calvin Reid, The Lodger, Publishers Weekly, November 15, 2010
Tom Spurgeon Holiday Interview #11: Karl Stevens, The Comics Reporter, January 3, 2009
Jordan Foster, Life, Sex, Art--Whatever, Publishers Weekly, June 10, 2008
Wayne Alan Brenner, Your library wants these bad, Austin Chronicle, May 2, 2008