The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization presents the story and work of two of the most widely acclaimed artists in the history of American comics –Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Sex, Love, and Rockets: The Comix World of Los Bros Hernandez will be on display from Feb. 5 through March 2, 2007. Jaime Hernandez will visit Brown to discuss his work at the opening reception. All events are free and open to the public.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Filled with hammer-wielding heroines, rebellious punks and a cast of characters reflecting diverse ethnic backgrounds, sexual preferences and economic classes, the multivolume graphic novel Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, revitalized the comix revolution in the 1980s. The story of the Hernandez brothers (known collectively as Los Bros Hernandez) and their comics are explored in the exhibition Sex, Love, and Rockets: The Comix World of Los Bros Hernandez, on display from Monday, Feb. 5, through Friday, March 2, 2007, at the John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization.

In conjunction with the exhibition, author and artist Jaime Hernandez will visit Brown to deliver a lecture and seminar on comic book art. The lecture will be held on Monday, Feb. 5, 2007 at 5 p.m. in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 001. It is free and open to the public. A reception and the exhibit opening will follow immediately at the John Nicholas Brown Center, 357 Benefit St.

Inspired and politicized by the punk music scene of the 1980s, Los Bros Hernandez articulated a generation’s concerns with gender, sexuality, race, class and punk aesthetics in more than 50 published issues of Love and Rockets. Their stories of Latinos in and out of the United States, from southern California to the fictional Latin American country of Palomar, have been translated into six different languages. Jaime’s enduring character “La Maggie” gained recent attention through the comic’s serialization in The New York Times Magazine.

“Los Bros Hernandez’s Love and Rockets told and drew unparalleled stories of Latinas and Latinos, pumping a new spirit and cultural life into the underground comix revolution of the 1960s and 1970s,” said Ralph Rodriguez, associate professor of American civilization and project director. “Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez are simply two of the most important graphic novelists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”

Encompassing both the main exhibit room and the carriage house gallery at the John Nicholas Brown Center, Sex, Love, and Rockets aims to capture a traditional museum environment, while replicating the feel of the urban countercultures out of which the comics grew. The main room showcases excerpts from the comic books and original sketches. The carriage house features an interactive exhibit that attempts to recreate the punk scene from which Los Bros Hernandez emerged, including music, original photos and video displays. Both rooms will also include a sitting area for enjoying the original and current issues of Love and Rockets.

Though Love and Rockets has been around since 1982, the comic series is rarely the subject of museum exhibitions. In the past, it has been featured at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Washington University, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, and Pasadena City College, but the exhibition at Brown is the first to encompass the aesthetic and socio-political dimensions of the comics and one of a few to focus exclusively on Los Bros Hernandez.

Sex, Love, and Rockets: The Comix World of Los Bros Hernandez is curated by Brown graduate students Alma Carrillo Lopez, Thomas Chen, Mireya Loza, Nicole Restaino and Felicia Salinas. The exhibition is sponsored by the Creative Arts Council, the John Nicholas Brown Center, the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, and the Department of American Civilization.

The John Nicholas Brown Center for the Study of American Civilization is located at 357 Benefit St., Providence. The exhibit is open for viewing Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m. or by appointment. For information, call (401) 863-1177 or e-mail publichumanities@brown.edu.

Editors: Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews, and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call (401) 863-2476.

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