Join the Bainbridge Public Library for the April 2023 First Friday Art Walk, featuring Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal
The Bainbridge Public Library is dedicated to spreading the joy of reading and the discovery of ideas with not just our local community, but with visitors from near and afar. In addition, the library is fortunate to house beautiful local works of art both inside and outside the building. Each month the library celebrates a local artist (or artists) with an exhibit, which opens monthly on the Island’s First Friday Art Walk tour, and includes a reception hosted by the featured artist.
The Bainbridge Public Library is proud to present an exhibit by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal
Matthew will host a “meet and greet” from 5pm-7pm on Friday, April 7, 2023 to open his new exhibit, “I’m a cartoonist. I live on Bainbridge Island. I hate Frog Rock” for First Friday Art Walk
Matthew Inman began exploring the world of computers and technology at the age of 12, ultimately learning how to code, which would help define his early career path building websites. His dating site, Mingle2 was filled with humorous quizzes designed to help market and grow the site, but his love of funny cartoons would take on a new meaning when he began writing and drawing comics about dating and later, cats. It wouldn’t be long before the cartoons were more popular than the dating site, which eventually led to the creation of “The Oatmeal”.
The Oatmeal is a standalone website featuring Matthew’s comics and quizzes, and since its inception in 2009, he has garnered more than 3.8 million likes on Facebook and 1.1 million Instagram followers.
Matthew takes a different approach to cartooning, utilizing the unlimited space of the internet to create longer, freeform pieces. He explores a variety of topics, such as “Why I Believe Printers Were Sent from Hell to Make Us Miserable”, “ What it means when you say literally”, “Cat VS Internet”, and “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived”, to name a few. His book, “How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You” hit the New York Times Best Seller list, which inspired cartoon merchandise, games, quizzes and other books. His incredibly popular internet cartoon, Exploding Kittens is currently being made into a Netflix TV series.
After 20 years living in Seattle (and travelling to Los Angeles frequently for work), Matthew and his (then) girlfriend decided move to Bainbridge Island. The island was a place they visited often and found they enjoyed the community feel. In 2019, they made the move and married that same year.
Matthew will be on hand for conversation and enjoyment of his art, games, puzzles, doodles and some Q and A during opening night.
Matthew’s exhibit is available for viewing and sale at the Bainbridge Public Library throughout the month of April. The exhibit will be available during regular library hours. For more information, please see the library website, www.bainbridgepubliclibrary.org.
A portion of the sales is donated back to the library.
As always, thank you for supporting your Bainbridge Public Library and local artists. If you have interest in exhibiting your work, feel free to contact Linda Meier, art coordinator, at lindameier2000@gmail.com
***Content and images provided by Linda Meier, Bainbridge Public Library
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