CONTACT / CV

dash (dot) austin (dot) shaw (at) gmail (dot) com

https://www.instagram.com/dash_shaw/

FILM

Cryptozoo, 2021 95 mins. Direction and story of an animated feature about a zoo that rescues and houses mythological creatures. As cryptozookeepers struggle to capture a baku (a legendary dream-eating hybrid creature) they begin to question whether they should house these rare beings in the confines of a zoo, or if they should remain hidden and unknown. Stars the voice talents of Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Zoe Kazan, Louisa Krause, Angeliki Papoulia, Thomas Jay Ryan, Peter Stormare and Grace Zabriskie.

Sundance Film Festival 2021, NEXT Innovator Award; Berlinale International Film Festival 2021, Generation 14+ Special Mention Award; SFFILM Festival 2021, Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award, and others.

Mystic Brine, 2021 3 mins. Direction of an original music video for John Carroll Kirby’s “Cryptozoo” soundtrack from Stones Throw Records.

13 Reasons Why, 2018 3 mins. An animated section of “13 Reasons Why” season 2, episode 7.

“Initially introduced out of context midway through the season, the animation by Jane Samborski and Dash Shaw (the creative forces behind the 2016 Toronto favorite “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea”) was a beautiful, surreal lull in the midst of the action. We later understand the sequence as a flashback to when Hannah and Clay were tripping, but in or out of context, it was a lovely moment.” -- Liz Shannon Miller, IndieWire

My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, 2016 80 mins. Direction and story of an animated disaster film starring the voice talents of Jason Schwartzman, Lena Dunham, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph and Susan Sarandon.

New York Film Festival 2016 Main Slate Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival 2016 “Vanguard” Official Selection, Fantastic Fest 2016 Official Selection, AFI Fest 2016 Official Selection, Philadelphia Film Festival 2016 Official Selection, Calgary Underground Film Festival 2016 Official Selection, Berlinale International Film Festival 2017 “Generations 14” Official Selection, and others.

Theatrical Release Run April to June, 2017. Now available streaming on Starz in the USA.

“An instant cult classic” -- Dan Schoenbrun, Filmmaker Magazine

“What we’re seeing [in High School] is the chance to use advancements in DIY animation to break down the financial barriers that used to inoculate this industry from the threat of independent voices. It’s the old guard sinking into the sea, and based on his killer first feature directing effort, Shaw has a good shot at emerging on top.” ‘ -- Andrew Lapin, NPR

“The film is a quick and dazzling burst of pleasure, pulling together so many opposing visuals, ideas and genres and coming up with something entirely unique as a result.” -- Benjamin Lee, The Guardian

Named one of the best films of the year, 2016, by Amy Taubin, ArtForum.

I Learn America, 2013 3 mins. Direction of an animated sequence for a documentary about a Brooklyn public school by Jean-Michel Dissard and Gitte Peng.

The Film Ballad of Mamadada, 2013 1 min. Direction of an animated segment for a documentary about the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven by Cassandra Guan and Lily Benson.

Seraph, 2012 7 mins. Direction and animation for a Sigur Ros music video short film co-written with John Cameron Mitchell.

Sundance Film Festival 2013 Official Selection, Sundance Next Weekend 2013 Official Selection

Wheel of Fortune, 2011 7 minutes. Direction and animation of a “fast slideshow” short film.

2013 “This is My City/Bologna” exhibit at Bastardini ancient hospital, Italy, presented by Ono Arte Gallery. 2014 The Magic Floot, Tomato House, Brooklyn NY.

Rabbit Hole, 2010 & How to Talk to Girls at Parties, 2017 Artwork featured in the live action films directed by John Cameron Mitchell.

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD, 2009 8 mins. Direction, animation and story of a series of animated shorts for the IFC Channel.

2010 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation. Collected in Wholphin, McSweeney’s quarterly film anthology.

PUBLICATIONS

Blurry, 2024 480 pgs, New York Review Comics. A graphic novel about a man choosing between two similar dress shirts to wear to his brother’s wedding.

Ant Dodger, 2024 12 pgs, self published. A newsprint zine of artwork with poems by Bill Knott. Includes a comic short story.

New Realities: The Comics of Dash Shaw, 2023 240 pgs, Uncivilized Books. Cover and comic excerpts inside a critical survey of Shaw’s work written by Greg Hunter.

Windy but Nice, 2022 8 pgs, co-published with Black Ocean. A newsprint zine of artwork with poems by Tomaz Salamun.

Discipline, 2021 300 pgs, New York Review Comics. A graphic novel about a Quaker soldier in the American Civil War.

“A harrowing but nuanced Civil War epic. . . The blend of mournful and contemplative musings from Charles and Fanny, along with the raw, ugly, details of life during wartime, combine into a searingly grim yet insightful study. Shaw artfully captures the timeless crisis of idealism meeting painful reality.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Shaw’s fluid, untethered lines rhyme with the book’s constant sense of movement as the journey of 17-year-old Charles Cox unfolds on the battlefield and beyond. The refreshingly aerated pages of Discipline often reminded me of a sketchbook: Pictures can repeat, as if they’re being worked out. . . Discipline isn’t as interested in delivering visual realism as it is in capturing the texture of emotion and feeling.” — Hillary Chute, The New York Times

The Seasons, 2021 8 pgs, co-published with Robbins. A newsprint zine of artwork with poems by Michael Robbins.

Clue: Candlestick #1-3, 2019 32 pgs each, IDW Publishing. A three issue mini-series based on the timeless detective game.

My Beautiful Despair: The Philosophy of Kim Kierkegaardashian, 2018 Touchstone Books. Illustrations for the popular twitter feed, in the form of a humor book. Approximately eighty illustrations in all.

Structures 57-66, 2018 24 pgs, Uncivilized Books. The 6th volume in the Structures series. A meditation on the nature of monumental structures and what they commemorate.

Now #1-3, 2017-2018 Short stories, Fantagraphics Books. Comic short stories appear in an anthology edited by Eric Reynolds.

Kramers Ergot #8-10, 2012-2019 Short stories, Picturebox & Fantagraphics Books. Comic short stories and graphic novel excerpts appear in an anthology edited by Sammy Harkham.

World’s Greatest Cartoonists FCBD #1-2, 2017-2018 Short stories, Fantagraphics Books. Original comic short stories for the Free Comic Book Day comic series.

Escape to the Unfinished #3, 2017 26 pgs, Breakdown Press. The third in Breakdown Press’s series of artist’s sketchbooks.

Cosplayers, 2016 & Cosplayers: Perfect Collection, 2017 128 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A graphic novel about two young women who “cosplay.”

“Cosplayers reads like an account of what it’s like when a person’s soul is addicted to fantasy, leaving folks with masks some will desperately want to be their real faces.” — Evan Narcisse, io9

Hip Hop Family Tree / Cosplayers FCBD, 2015 48 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. Half of a Free Comic Book Day comic.

Doctors, 2014 96 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A graphic novel about doctors who enter deceased patients’ afterlives to bring them back from the dead.

“The artist makes a statement, subtly, about the worlds we build for ourselves and the materials from which we construct them, but Shaw is rarely interested in simple answers... Shaw’s impulse shies away from the stereotypically ‘classy,’ and instead bangs together two under-respected genres, leading to something strange and wonderful yet again.” -- Hillary Brown, Paste

New School, 2013 340 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A graphic novel about two brothers on a mysterious island where an ambitious amusement park is under construction.

“A former student of the genius artist-seer-cartoonist Gary Panter, Dash, it’s fair to say, is something of a genius as well.” -- Chris Ware

“I’ve seen the future of comics and its name is Dash Shaw.” -- David Mazzucchelli

“A defiantly odd, quietly gorgeous, utterly singular book.” -- Glen Weldon, NPR

3 New Stories, 2013 32 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A pamphlet collection of dystopian comic short stories.

“Kaleidoscopic... Shaw has a deft touch... Like the very best illustrated fiction, Shaw’s work moves between pathos and humor, between the fantastic and the familiar.” -- The Christian Science Monitor

New Jobs, 2013 32 pgs, Uncivilized Books. A couple get new jobs to support their child.

Animation Sketchbooks, 2013 8 pg section, Chronicle Books. A book of animators’ sketchbooks, edited by Laura Heit

The Best American Comics 2011, 2011 BodyWorld excerpt, Houghton Mifflin. Edited by Alison Bechdel.

Strange Tales #1 and 2, 2010-2011 Comic short stories, Marvel Comics. Alternative comics creators draw Marvel hero stories in this comics anthology series.

BodyWorld, 2010 384 pgs, Pantheon Books. A graphic novel about characters with telepathic powers. This was originally serialized on dashshaw.com starting in 2007 and was collected into an unusual vertically-oriented hardcover book in 2010. The website version is archived on Study Group Comics.

LA Times Book Award nominee “Best Graphic Novel”

“Shaw is a brilliant writer too... BodyWorld turns out to be another showcase for Shaw’s emotional generosity. Indeed, what better way to explore the limits of sympathy than with characters who can literally feel each other’s pain?” —Ed Park, The Los Angeles Times

“There’s so much gusto and invention [here] that it’s more rewarding than any number of more modest successes.” —Douglas Wolk, The New York Times Book Review

“BodyWorld is wholeheartedly, and in the best possible sense, the comic book of the future… A.” —The Onion A.V. Club

From Here to There, 2010 Map section, Princeton Architectural Press. A book of artist’s maps edited by Kris Harzinski.

Vice Magazine, 2010 5pgs, Vice. A short story edited by Amie Barrodale for the “Vice” magazine fiction issue.

The Believer Magazine, 2010 Comic insert, McSweeneys. A fold-out comic short story edited by Andrew Leland.

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD, 2009 128 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A collection of animation work and comic short stories done from 2007 to 2009.

The Best American Comics 2009, 2009 10 pgs, Houghton Mifflin. Edited by Charles Burns.

Mome #10-22, 2008-2011 Short stories, Fantagraphics Books. Comic short stories appear in an anthology edited by Eric Reynolds.

Bottomless Belly Button, 2008 720 pgs, Fantagraphics Books. A graphic novel about a family gathered at a remote beach house where the eldest couple have announced their divorce.

“Bottomless Belly Button—720 pages of knotty family drama, emotional teen angst, lyrical passages about nature, good jokes, bad parenting, architectural schematics, rudimentary codes, and explicit sex—has become the graphic novel of the year, combining youthful exuberance, sage storytelling, and visual experimentation.” -- Dan Kois, New York Magazine

“A genuine masterpiece.” -- Entertainment Weekly

SELECTED WRITING

Fårö Document, 2023 Article for Mubi:Notebook print issue 2.

Peep of the Devil and I Kinda Read the Incal, 2022-2023 Articles for Bubbles fanzine.

Mubi: Five Inspirations, 2021 Mubi: Notebook column about five books that inspired Cryptozoo, with illustrations.

Criterion: Top Ten, 2021 Top Ten column for Criterion’s Current.

Collaging Cryptozoo, 2021 An article about collage-making for Talkhouse.

Grown Men Reading Nancy, 2018 A review of “How to Read Nancy” for the New York Review of Books Daily.

Toons on Shrooms, 2017 An article for the Metrograph Program Book.

Artist’s Top Ten, 2015 Top Ten Feature in ArtForum Magazine.

Go Burn Brightly, 2015 A review of “Horror Hospital Unplugged” for American Book Review.

Kill My Mother, 2014 A review of “Kill My Mother” for The Comics Journal.