Institute 193 Presents Josh Bayer and Hyena Hell

Institute 193 is pleased to host readings by Josh Bayer along with Hyena Hell, a unique comics power couple. Currently on tour to promote Bayer’s newly released book, UNENDED, both artists will be presenting their individual works in addition to selling and signing their comics/books. The event will take place on Friday December 22^nd at 6PM at 193 North Limestone, and is free and open to the public.

Josh Bayer is a comics artist who lives in Harlem, NY. He is the editor of the anthology Suspect Device, and the author of Raw Power, RM, Black Star, Theth and its sequel, Theth Tomorrow Forever, an Ignatz award Nominee for Outstanding Graphic Novel of 2020. Additionally, he is the editor and writer of the All Time Comics imprint from Floating World Comics and Fantagraphics. His style mashes up several genres into a unique synthesis. His inky lines reveal/unleash an anarchic, punk influence that results in his singular approach to narrative. His comics work was reprinted in the Best American Comics series in 2014 and 2017. Bayer also produced conceptual art for a variety of TV and film productions for clients including MTV, HBO and Amnesty International. Josh earned an MFA in Illustration and Cartooning in 2009 and has been teaching professionally since 2007 at schools all over New York. In 2021, he was nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award by a panel of his peers at Parsons University. His collection of short works, Abysmalation, released in 2022, is followed in 2023 by his graphic novel/adaptation of an unfinished manuscript left by his deceased father. Writer Jonathan Lethem remarked on this book: “Heart-rending and sense-flooding, gorgeous, tragic, generous and vulnerable – UNENDED is an artwork I’ll never forget.”

A native of Kentucky, Hyena Hell is a prolific cartoonist and self-publisher (Horror Vacui Press). She is the author of No Romance in Hell and Demons: Bloodlust. A regular contributor to anthologies of comics, Hell’s work has been published by Silver Sprocket, Tinto Press, and Birdcage Bottom Books. She has conducted educational videos with partner Bayer on the art of comics-making for SAW (Sequential Artist Workshop). Ryan C., in a review for No Romance in Hell, writes of her: “Audacious humor, lots of attitude, a decidedly punk sensibility, feminist themes, and no f*cks given as to whose toes she steps on…This is just about as accessible — and smart, and entertaining — as comics get.” New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast adds: “Hyena Hell is funny and can draw and can write. Love her stuff. Also, she can find the humor in despair and that is not nothing.”

Well-known Lexington-based comics artist, J.T. Dockery, will be on deck to introduce the guest artists and moderate discussion. Dockery published Spud Crazy in 2011 with Institute 193, and his work Despair Vol. 1 was on the “Notable Comics” list for Best American Comics in 2014.