Panter's Playhouse

The Durant native one degree from Zappa, the Peppers, and Pee-Wee

A few days in to my gig at Philbrook Museum of Art, we hosted an event with Gary Panter.

The afternoon of the event, I spent a few minutes doing a bit of research. It didn’t take long for my jaw to hit the floor. Gary Panter wasn’t just an underground cartoonist. He was one of the most influential cartoonists of the last half of the 20th century. He wasn’t just a graphic artist; he designed album covers for Frank Zappa, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and others.

He wasn’t just an Emmy-winning set designer. He was the Emmy-winning set designer for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

Born in Durant in 1950 and raised mostly in Texas, Panter belongs to the same generation of artists as Art Spiegelman and Matt Groening. While R. Crumb was connected to the hippie counterculture of the ‘60s, Panter and his contemporaries were more punk in their aesthetic and attitude. Having someone like Panter serve as Art Director for a network children’s television show seems completely subversive in retrospect. We haven’t seen anything like it since.

With only a few hours between my Panter revelation and the event at the museum, I had little time to spread the word. I’ve always prided myself as being a person “in the know.” In this case, I didn’t know a damn thing. I felt like a fool. Turned out, a lot of people were more in-the-know than I. In a sparsely populated auditorium, Panter delivered a deadpan presentation with photos, his personal history, and a few awkward pauses. I loved it. Those in attendance did as well. After a quick post-event book signing, I found myself in the group taking Panter to dinner. We ended up at Elote Café on a quiet Thursday evening, a rag-tag group sitting around a long table, sharing chips and queso.

In the years since, I’ve become more familiar with Panter’s work and his influence. We at Philbrook have since hosted one of his Playhouse collaborators, the equally talented and essential Wayne White. (See the documentary “Beauty is Embarrassing” for more on that force of nature.)

Just when I think I know all of the notable Oklahomans, I’m reminded that I’ve barely scratched the surface. That’s what we’re trying to do here—prove me wrong. Learn all you can about Gary Panter. Read his books. Find original vinyl with his cover art. Spend a lazy day down a YouTube rabbit hole, watching clips of Pee-Wee in his unforgettable world.

PANTER AT A GLANCE

In 2006, Panter was included in the “Masters of American Comics” show at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Also included in the exhibition was Oklahoma’s own Chester Gould, creator of “Dick Tracy,” profiled in a previous OK Cool column, now at
TheTulsaVoice.com.

Panter recently teamed up with his octogenarian father, Mel, for a father-son exhibition in Sulphur Springs. Gary’s punk-infused work hung right next his father’s oil paintings of cowboys and Texas iconography. Two distinct styles. One surname.

Panter created the logo and album art for legendary punk band The Screamers. The Screamers lineup included fellow Okie and future Oscar-nominated production designer K.K. Barrett, also profiled in a previous OK Cool column. It’s available at TheTulsaVoice.com, too.

For more than a decade, Panter has been exploring his interest in psychedelic light shows, working alongside legendary light master Joshua White and creating backdrops for bands like Yo La Tengo.