Nancy Cartwright already has one of the most famous voices in animation. But now, she’s mastering the art itself.
The Simpsons star recently traded in her microphone (and Bart Simpson’s notorious stack of megaphones) for a paintbrush, showcasing some of her recent fine art pieces at an exhibition near her hometown of Dayton, Ohio.
“(It was) within the last 10 years or so that I started immersing myself in sculpting and in painting,” Cartwright explained during a sitdown with local news outlet WDTN.
Cartwright’s exhibit, “Pop Goes the Easel,” is as bright and colorful as her 36 years in Springfield. The actress cited Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso as her main inspirations in creating her pop-art animal portraits.
Of course, the exhibit wouldn’t be complete without a few not-so-subtle homages to her Simpsons character. Beyond a diptych featuring Bart’s beloved lines of “Eat my shorts” and “cowabunga” emblazoned in neon-yellow thought bubbles, Cartwright let form follow function. That is, several of her paintings used a technique known as “reverse painting,” which is commonly used in the animation world.
“I hope that they look at the art, and I hope that they get inspired, like the way I got inspired,” she explained during an interview with Dayton’s CBS affiliate.
This isn’t the first time that the Simpsons have dipped their cartoon toes into the world of fine art. Back in 2024, more than 150 hand-painted cels, storyboards and production slides from the show’s early years made it to Austria’s Karikaturmuseum Krems, a museum specializing in satire and political cartoons.
“Generations have grown up with animated films that were drawn by hand,” the curator explained of the exhibit, “Here Comes Bart! Simpsons Cartoon Art from the William Heeter and Kristi Correa Collection.” “With our exhibition, we are offering art lovers and animation fans an insight into a world that once lit up television screens and can now be admired as cultural heritage.”
That’s definitely something worth having a cow over.
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