Esther Pearl Watson

Esther Pearl Watson (born 1973) is an American cartoonist, author, illustrator, and painter who lives and works in Los Angeles. She is best known for Unlovable, a comic about an awkward high school sophomore in the 1980s, inspired by a diary found in a gas station bathroom. Watson's work contains themes of personal memory and adolescent angst, drawing upon influences from found media, children's art, folk art, and outsider art. She is represented by Vielmetter Los Angeles, Maureen Paley Gallery in London, Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, Texas, and Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York City.

Biography Esther Pearl Watson was born in 1973 in Frankfurt, Germany. She also has worked as a commercial illustrator and children's book author.

Work

Comics Watson's comic series Unlovable relates the daily struggles of protagonist Tammy Pierce's sophomore year of high school in 1985. Watson gained the inspiration for the character during a road trip when she found a discarded diary amongst a pile of clothes and garbage in a gas station bathroom sink. Unlovable found an audience on the back page of BUST magazine and was later published in several volumes by Fantagraphics.

In 2006, Watson co-authored a book called Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine? with her husband Mark Todd, published by Houghton Mifflin. The book is a DIY guide for creating and publishing a zine. Watson and Todd illustrate the how-to text with collage, drawings, and comics.

For Vice Media, Watson created a comic series called Blood Lady Commandos in 2015. The protagonists, Gail and Phylis, are grandmothers who have been dispatched to battle a drug lord named Tiny Miracle. In an interview Watson explained, "Basically I wanted to retell the story of Rambo, but using a protagonist that you wouldn’t think of in that position, which would be an older lady and her friend." Crafted from childhood memories, the compositions usually have a few lines of handwritten text in the upper left corner, along with a signature and date. Her series Safer At Home: Pandemic Paintings includes 100 small paintings exhibited both online and in person at Vielmetter Los Angeles. the works in this series depict what had become common scenes of social distancing and isolation.

Watson's paintings have been collected by the likes of Simpsons creator Matt Groening and photographer/performance artist Cindy Sherman.

Selected publications Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?: The Art of Making Zines and Minicomics by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006. ISBN 9780618563159 Unlovable, Volume 1 by Esther Pearl Watson. Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2009. Unlovable, Volume 2 by Esther Pearl Watson. Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2010. Unlovable, Volume 3 by Esther Pearl Watson. Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2014. Unlovable, the Complete Collection by Esther Pearl Watson. Published by Fantagraphics Books, 2010.

Selected exhibitions

2023 Sightings, Sun Valley Museum of Art, Ketchum, ID Esther Pearl Watson: A Very Luminous Vision, Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA

2022 Esther Pearl Watson: Guardian of Eden, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY Esther Pearl Watson: An Apparent Brightness, Maureen Paley, Marina Di Luna, Hove, UK The Magical Mystery Tour Returns, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2021 Esther Pearl Watson, Safer at Home: Pandemic Paintings, Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, MI Esther Pearl Watson: Greenhouse, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA Dust It Off, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2020 20 Years Anniversary Exhibition, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA Safer at Home: Pandemic Paintings, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA

2019 Esther Pearl Watson: Dream Believer, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Fine Arts Gallery, Kenosha, WI Mothership, Maureen Paley, London, UK Folk Art Collection of John Mitchell from Eureka Springs AR The Stink Eye, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2018 Esther Pearl Watson: Tire Universe, Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA April 14, 1561, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York Good Job Dream Achiever, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas Tire Universe, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA

2017 Starship Pegasus, Antonio Columbo Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy Blackhole Blowout, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, Texas Now More Than Ever, LACE Benefit Art Auction, Los Angeles For the Good Times, Sp(a)ce, Pasadena

2016 The 11th Annual Blab Show, curated by Monte Beauchamp, Copro Gallery, Los Angeles The Furies, Visitor Welcome Center, Los Angeles, CA Cocoon, Arts Factory, Paris, FR Galactic Plains, Gregorio Escalante Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Hearsay, Artists Reveal Urban Legends, LosJoCos Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2015 Atrium, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX New Works, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX The Future Arrives, Galleri Galleberg, Norway

2014 Family Lexicon, Antonio Colombo Gallery, Milan, IT Sky, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA Amazon Solitaire, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, Eagle Rock, CA Explorers, CSC Gallery, McLennan Community College, Waco, TX Hexenhaus, 495 Alameda St, Altadena, CA With Open Eyes, Grafikens Hus, Mariefried, Sweden It’s Not a Circus Without a Big Top, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2013 Esther Pearl Watson, Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA

2012 Hidden Behind the Stars, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX Permanent Collection, Nancy Margolis Gallery, New York, NY Cal/Arts MFA Graduate Exhibition, LA Mart, LA Fort Beavatron, CalArts Mint Gallery, Valencia, CA

2011 CalArts Main Gallery, Valencia, CA Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA Land Of Magic, Lesher Center for the Arts, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA Women in Comics, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2010 New Works, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2009 Visions of the Future, Billy Shire Fine Art, Culver City, CA Texas Instruments, Domy, Austin, TX When in Texas act like a Texan, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX

2008 3rd Annual LA Weekly Biennial, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA Failure, The Lab at Belmar, Lakewood, CO Blab Show!, Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Kansas City, KS LA Paint, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA

2007 The Weirding Field, La Luz De Jesus, Los Angeles, CA

2006 What I Remember, Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery, Pasadena, CA

2005 Keep On Laughing, Katherine Mulherin Contemporary, Toronto, CA