Barbara "Willy" Mendes is an American cartoonist and fine artist. She is best known in the comic world for her work alongside Trina Robbins in It Ain't Me Babe and All Girl Thrills. Mendes was one of the early and very influential member of the underground comix movement, working alongside the other few female artists who contributed to the newly founded underground comix movement. Although Mendes first achieved her fame as Willy, she later transitioned to Barbara.
Mendes led a dual life in both underground comix and her more serious work exhibitions in art galleries around the United States. Judaism and strong feminist urges have influenced Mendes and as a result her art often portrayed these themes. After a particular transformational experience in 1992 when she painted a mural for a synagogue, the Judaic themes became much more prevalent.
Early work
Mendes stepped into the art world during the late 1960s, upon graduation from college. She started her career in underground comix, when she paired with Trina Robbins and Nancy Kalish on Gothic Blimp Works, the comix supplement of the East Village Other, an underground newspaper. Mendes and Robbins continued working together and published It Ain't Me Babe in 1970 which was an all-women comic book. Later in 1971, Mendes published Illuminations in which her more psychedelic work can be seen. She then stepped away from the comix scene and reverted to calling herself Barbara Mendes while transitioning into painting. Mendes claims that her "stuff was never raw and sexual... It was about hippies saving the world through spirituality".
Recent work
After completing a mural in a Sephardic Synagogue in Los Angeles, Mendes felt reconnected with her heritage and then began to study the Torah and actively practice Judaism which became the driving force in both her life and art. As a result, Mendes began running her own art gallery in downtown Los Angeles. She paints brightly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus and now Leviticus, which is the third book of the Torah. Mendes created her own style of "Epic Paintings" which consists of brightly colored, narrative imagery displaying biblical stories and messages.
