New Artist Featured + Ben Claassen III's DIRTFARM WORMHOLE

Meet Lee Strawberry, a delightful exhibitor from our recent STORYBOX Comics Fair in downtown Silver Spring, MD.

Sep 15, 2023

∙ Paid

A Chat with Lee Strawberry

DWIGHTMESS: Your comics and merch offerings seem to be a whole encounter with your personality; something about the drawing quality and the topics you cover, including your daily anxieties and struggles, feels gloriously hastily dashed into existence, an aesthetic term you call "cute & chaotic." On your website, in discussing your own recurring cartoon persona's appearance in your work, you say: "Their character, being a simplified version of themself, grew to capture audiences as others saw the character as a reflection within themselves. This idea eventually evolved into the slice of life comics you see today." The conflicted character we see, is of course some sort of exaggeration, right? Are you secretly calm or would you say you are truly this much emergency? To what extent would you say you're like the character and how do you think that affects the people in your life?

STRAWBERRY: I am very much attached to the character, I treat each comic like a diary entry. It generally depends on who I’m around, but I’d say those who know me closely would say I’m the same way I portray myself in my comics. Mentally, I bounce all over the place and channel that energy into my line-work.

Since I’m medicated, I’m a lot less all over the place than I was when I first started making comics. In 2019-2020, when I started posting, I was more unstable, and it’s reflected in my comics. I was more prone to outbursts, panic attacks, etc etc. I was just busy being sad, I guess. Graduating college (2019) was a lot for me - I completely changed who I was around as well, and the instability in my life didn’t affect my mental health very well.

Stay tuned for our next edition of The Graffo Broadsheet for more of Lee’s words and comics!

Closing Reception: Ben Claassen III: DIRTFARM WORMHOLE

Sunday, September 24th, 3pm.

Join us with the artist for our closing reception celebrating DIRTFARM WORMHOLE, a solo exhibition of new comics, paintings, prints, t-shirts, stickers and multimedia works by Ben Claassen III !!

Free & Open to the public!*
Beverages & Jambalaya served !

Creator of the classic comic strip DIRTFARM 20 years ago, Claassen's art, with its distinctive pop stylings, was a regular feature in alt-weekly newspapers such as Baltimore and Washington City Paper, and also appeared in publications such as the Washington Post and the Onion. We are so proud to be exhibiting the newest work by this artist!

DWIGHTMESS
805 Silver Spring Ave.
[entrance on Ripley St]
Silver Spring MD 20910

*Regular gallery hours are by appointment. If you wish to visit the show before the closing reception, please DM or text 202.714.4500 to arrange a time. Most evenings and weekend requests can be accommodated.

Next Up in October: ARCADE OF INIQUITY

JOIN DWIGHTMESS this October for THE ARCADE OF INIQUITY, a haunted holiday installation of alien encounters, spooky demons, uncanny games and terrifying performances.

Open Weekends only, October 6th through the 29th + Halloween until midnight!

Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 6-11pm, Sundays 6-10pm. $10 Admission.

A production of Moloch's Midway and Cabinet of Infernal Mysteries, Baltimore, MD.

Tickets go on sale next week!!

*Disclaimer: Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Guest experience includes jump scares, strobe lights, and horror soundtrack.

COMING SOON: dwightmess.com

dwightmess.com will include access to photo documentation of our past exhibitions and events ( that's 8 SHOWS, 5 events, our Swekt & Drang Cartoonist Residency+++the recent #storyboxcomicsfair since we opened in January of this year !! ), our Substack newsletter/blog, "The GRAFFO Broadsheet" can be accessed there and there’s also a special STUDIO section where experimental comics, works-in-progress & research will be featured and of course a link to our shop, where we offer selected sketches, artworks, & comics from the DWIGHTMESS studio, & original artworks and comics publications by our past exhibiting artists.

Please visit dwightmess.bigcartel.com to obtain some of our great comics art offerings and SUPPORT our artists & the EVOLUTION of our comics studios facilities, events, programs and gallery here at the compound !

tell us: How’d you enjoy STORYBOX?

You’d have to been sleeping to’ve missed our first mini-expo, STORYBOX Comics Fair, held this on Saturday, August 12, 2023 at Denizens Brewing Co. in downtown Silver Spring. Did you go? If so what did you enjoy most? Was there anything we could have done better? What would you like to see more of?

Write us! adam@dwightmess.com | IG: @storyboxcomicsfair

Next year’s STORYBOX is confirmed to be held at Third Hill Brewing Co. in downtown Silver Spring, MD. Stay tuned for Special Guest announcements and more!