Elizabeth Colomba
Martinican, b. in 1976
Living and working in Harlem, Elizabeth Colomba was born in 1976 in the Paris region, to a family from the island of Martinique in the French West Indies. An assiduous reader of European comics, she turned to painting at a very young age. She studied at the Estienne school and at the Beaux-arts in Paris. Through a classic approach to figuration, she offers black personalities a spotlight and a dignity that they have too often been denied. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, at the Museum of Art of Princeton University at New York’s Park Avenue Armory and at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. In 1998, she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a story boarder in the motion picture industry. This is where, she met writer Aurélie Lévy with whom she collaborated on the screenplay of her first graphic novel, Queenie, the Godmother of Harlem (2021). It is probably no coincidence that this work retraces the true journey of Stephanie St. Clair, born in the 19th century in Martinique who became a feared gang leader in Harlem during the prohibition.
Cotton Club, 2022
Queenie’s outfit and jewels Chanel
Watercolor, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 29 x 27 1/2 inches
Sold
Queenie, Cover Illustration, 2022
Gold leaf, watercolor, tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 29 x 27 1/2 inches
Sold
Shots Fired, 2022
Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 24 1/2 x 19 inches
Our Stoop, 2022
Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 24 1/2 x 19 inches
A Family Affair, 2022
Queenie’s outfit inspired by Vionnet
Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 24 1/2 x 19 inches
Convincing Argument, 2022
Queenie’s outfit and jewels Chanel
Watercolor, Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 24 1/2 x 19 inches
Sold
A Mistake, (I had to take him out of the picture), 2022
Queenie’s dress inspired by Mainbocher
Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 24 1/2 x 19 inches
A Day at the Beach, 2022
Queenie’s outfit inspired by Schiaparelli
Tea, graphite, and white chalk on paper
Framed: 22 x 15 inches
Elizabeth Colomba
In Da Club, 2022
NFT
The Cotton Club, 1930’s. Jack Johnson is getting ready to welcome Duke Ellington!. The jazzy notes are flying across the screen, while we are moving towards the internationally renowned stage. This vignette is part of “Queenie”, a dazzling graphic novel set in the prohibition years when booze money is about to dry out. Reminiscent of comics from the golden age, the vignette sometime look like Bauhaus posters. The style is modern and, at the same time, preserves a vintage dime
Elizabeth Colomba
Go!, 2022
NFT
Harlem, 1933. It’s never good to hang out in an alley late at night. You never know who you might run into. The wheels are spinning, screeching, the smoke is pulsing. Stephanie St. Clair flees the scene in the nick of time. This vignette is part of “Queenie”, an epic graphic novel set in the prohibition years. The variations between the depth of the inks, the intense contrast of black and white deploy to evoke our heroine's past. These constant round trips between the West Indies and America outline another geography, intimate and protected, as if to access the inner meanders of Stephanie St Clair…
Elizabeth Colomba
This Will Warm You Up, 2022
NFT
The snow is falling, Stephanie St Clair is on the verge. All seems lost but her partner in crime Bumpy Johnson has her back. This vignette is drawn from a thrilling graphic novel set in Harlem when booze money was drying out. A film noir feel, both ultra-realistic and dreamlike, “Queenie” is sharp but tender when necessary. Cinematographic but also romantic, armed with an epic breath that crosses places, bodies and souls, the godmother of Harlem is here to stay.
This is a first in the USA for Catherine Meurisse, a first in exhibitions and sales for Rutu Modan and a first in “comic-art” for Elizabeth Colomba. A crowd of curious and true amateurs were surprised by their works, original boards, illustrations or drawings made especially for the event. With some well-known professionals at Actuabd.com.
NEW YORK. ”3 continents”: the exhibition pays tribute to three comic strip authors who honor their country of origin in their work. Elizabeth Colomba, Catherine Meurisse and Rutu Modan represent New York, Paris and Tel Aviv respectively. Cosmopolitan cities that inspire in abundance the abundant pool of artists.
