Darcy Meghan Stanger  ●  P.O. Box 71501  ●  Los Angeles, CA 90071
E-Mail: damedarcy@damedarcy.com  ●  Commissions: commissions@damedarcy.com

Biography

    Dame Darcy won a scholarship to the San Francisco Art institute at the age of 17, where she majored in film and animation studying under George Kuchar and Larry Jordan.  At the same time, she began self-publishing Meat Cake Comics and performing, releasing albums, and touring in the band Caroliner and with Lisa Carver.

    After fleeing New York in 1992, the Meat Cake Comic series began publication with Fantagraphics Books, Inc.  The Dame began working as a freelance illustrator and animator for a mighty score of New York-based papers and magazines, including the Village Voice, The N.Y. Press and Paper Mag.  She animated for MTV, Cartoon Network, and Curious Pictures--to name a few.  At the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, she taught a class on cartooning and self-publishing.  Dame Darcy's fine-art paintings, illustrations from various books, and hand-crafted dolls began exhibition in New York Galleries, which garnered enough attention to have the Dame's hand-crafted goods exhibited in galleries world-wide.

    In New York, the Dame played and toured with quite a few bands.  She toured with Michael Gira from the Swans and Angels of Light, and opened for Sonic Youth, Will Oldem, and John Spencer Blues Explosion, among others.  All of this left her just enough time to begin working with various independent producers to make a series of short films and a television series, Turn of the Century, which was directed by Lisa Hammer.

    In 2001 Dame Darcy relocated to Los Angeles, where her graphic novel Frightful Fairytales was released on Ten Speed Press.  Her fine-art is still represented in New York by the Bellweather Gallery in Chelsea, and is represented in L.A. by the Richard Heller Gallery in Bergamont Station.  Since in Los Angeles, Dame Darcy's Greatest Hits has been released in the U.S. on Action Driver Records, and My Eyes Have Seen the Glory was released in Tokyo on Press Pop.

    In December 2001, a Japanese gallery and record label invited Darcy to fly to Tokyo and Kyoto to exhibit original comics, paintings, and dolls.  She also performed with her band, "Gem in Eye," and Victor Witch Dr. TNT.  In April 2002, her solo exhibit premiered in the Richard Heller Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica.  In July 2002, she was invited to do a doll crafting workshop, perform with Gem in Eye, and lecture about Women In Comics for the San Francisco Ladyfest.

    Fashion has long been a valuable outlet for Darcy.  While in New York, she worked as a model and designed for Anna Sui.  Since she moved to LA, she has designed for Coigirl Magic and Laforet, both based in Tokyo.  In 2004, Darcy designed her own fashion line with Baby Doll/Ku, producing ladies' tops with Dame Darcy designs.  These designs, along with the Dame's comics, can currently be seen in the Tokyo-based Gothic Lolita Bible.

    Darcy has also branched out into interior design for a number of clients.  She was hired to design rooms in Courtney Love's house, the interior of the Parlour Club in Los Angeles, and a window display for Ameoba records (also in L.A.).  Last year she was tapped to design stained-glass windows for Margaret Cho's house, featuring characters from the Meat Cake series.

    Fantagraphics is still publishing Meat Cake, as well as the Meat Cake Compilation hard-bound book, which is distributed internationally.  Dame Darcy is currently represented in L.A. by Synchronicity Productions for the development of her animated TV series.  The Gernet Co., based in New York, represents her publishing career.  Current projects include a graphic novel version of the literary classic Jane Eyre, to be published by Putnam Penguin.  Meat Cake is going strong with Issue 14.  Darcy is continuing in the coordination and production of Gasoline, her latest original graphic novel, to be made into a feature film of the same title.  Dame Darcy's current band Death By Doll is signed to the Emperor Penguin Label, and plays often.  In the meantime, the Dame has taken on a day job teaching art to middle school children as part of the LACER after-school program.

    With her international fan base documented at 10,000, Dame Darcy looks to the future, as she continues to tour in the U.S. and internationally--in Europe, Japan, and Austrailia.  2005 shall see the opening of Darcy's online store, the expansion of her fashion line, and hopefully exciting developments in a number of projects.  As always, Dame Darcy, never defined by genre or medium, hopes to expand her horizons into her own anachronistic vision of the future...