We must have a lot of colorful problems in contemporary visual culture. “Creativity is problem-solving,” an animated character says on the Website of PAPER RAD. The recently Providence-based collective of shamelessly appropriated artful imaginations was founded and stabilized by the human tripod of Jessica Ciocci, brother Jacob Ciocci, and friend Ben Jones. Making the animated Bif! Wham! style of yesterday’s comic books look as static as a rock garden, their distinctive, anti-aesthetic fluorescent and primary color palette assures that even their 2-D books and zines pop out and their animations explode. And the music of their numerous bands isn’t exactly Debussy. Their 2005 book, Paper Rad, B.J. and Da Dogs, earned international popularity. Some notable non-punk, not-exactly-alternative venues that have appreciated them include Pace Wildenstein and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the 2007 Athens Bienalle.

PAPER RAD | paperrad.org