Mary Fleener attended Cal State U at Long Beach and majored in printmaking. She always harbored a secret desire to draw underground comics, especially after reading ZAP COMIX in the early 70s'.

In 1984 , inspired by Robert Crumb, she began self-publishing her own "mini comics" and began writing and trading with other artists who were doing the same thing. She was first published in anthologies such as WIMMEN'S, WEIRDO, RIP OFF REVIEW, TITS 'n' CLITS, SNARF and others. Her first solo book, HOODOO, (1988) was a 32 page comic devoted to the life and writings of Zora Neale Hurston. That influenced her to draw her own "folk tales", so she began doing autobiographical comics under the title SLUTBURGER (1989). The best of these stories were collected in book form, and in 1994, LIFE OF THE PARTY was published by Fantagraphics Books (Seattle) and FREAK MAGNET published by Reprodukt Books (Germany). She also has an Eros Comix title called, NIPPLEZ 'n' TUM TUM.

Other comic projects have been TWISTED SISTERS, BLAB!, GRATEFUL DEAD COMIX, ZERO ZERO, HEAVY METAL, HYENA, NARRATIVE CORPSE, DIRTY STORIES, DIGNIFYING SCIENCE, BUZZARD, REAL STUFF, REAL GIRL and SEXY STORIES FROM THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS and DRAWN and QUARTERLY.

In 1990 Fleener started reproducing panels from her comics and painting them on large canvases using vibrant acrylic colors. Her "cubismo" comic style was perfect for achieving a kinetic effect by using overlapping shapes and contrasting colors . Using fluorescent "day-glo" paints made the designs even more animated. This got her back into the Fine Art arena and work has been shown at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery (Los Angeles), LACE (Los Angeles), MOCA ( Seattle ), Laguna Beach Art Museum Annex, New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), The American Visionary Art Museum (Baltimore), Track 16 (Santa Monica), Sushi Gallery (San Diego), and Ducky Waddles Emporium, (Encinitas). Fleener is currently working with oils on black velvet and is having a solo show in Nov. 2003 at Ducky Waddles Emporium.
www.MaryFleener.com

	Mary Fleener, Internationally known for her adult comix including titles such as 'Life of the Party' and 'Nipplez 'n' TumTum', is taking comix art to a whole new level. At 'Symptoms' Fleener will display a series of paintings based on her comix panels, as well as other recent paintings rendered in her unique 'cubismo' style.