Comics Update

Though I haven’t written about them in a while, comics remains a very big part of my life. Here are some bullet points about concerning comics, myself, and the intersection of both.

• I’m almost through with a new mini comic called “The Black Squirrels of Washington, D.C.” which is in black and white and fits on both sides of an 8.5 by 11 piece of paper. This is the first time I’m actively designing a comic in InDesign and actually spending a good ammount on time on the drawings (the image above is an example). I’ll give it away free and make it available here.
• While I haven’t yet read this, one of my favorite illustrators, Jillian Tamaki, has a new graphic novel called SKIM that she did with her cousin, Mariko Tamaki. It has been reaping awards, but in an almost textbook example of comics not being understood, it is often called a children’s book. Worse yet, the book recieved a Governor’s General Literary Award in Canada, but only Mariko, the writer, was awarded. Check out this star-studed open letter of protest.
• Publications about comics are notoriously lame. Either you’re very high brow like the Comics Journal, or rediculously low brow like Wizard, but never in the middle. Now there’s Comics Foundry, which I’m proud to report is really good. It is interesting, funny, and has great puns. Keep your eyes peeled for that one.
• Jesse Reklaw is another great comics artist worth watching. His weekly syndicated comic, Slow Wave, illustrates his readers’ dreams, and his unbelievably quickly updated comics diary is really interesting and amusing.
• Recently I went to the Small Press Expo, or SPX, in Bethesda, where I met a lot of people I’d heard of, including the artists mentioned above. I also bought a lot of minis and saw great panels on topics like collaboration and indie publishing. Alt comix rulz!
• Several major comics opportunities loom on the horizon for me, not least amongst them the Center for Cartoon Studies, of which I’ve written about previously. I’m going there this weekend for their portfolio day and to decide if I will apply for next fall. Wish me luck; more updates to come.

Buckminster Fuller at the Whitney

Buckminster Fuller was an inventor, a visionary, and above all an eccentric. Fuller invented many fantastic things and most of them were totally impossible, but also awesome and patentable. His triumph was the geodesic dome, of which “Spaceship Earth” (a term Fuller coined) at Epcot is based on. I recently went to see a comprehensive exhibit on ol’ Bucky at the Whitney in Manhattan.

As a choice of subject for a modern and contemporary American art museum, Fuller is perfect. Fuller came from a wealthy New England family but never finished college. Instead, he began prolifically inventing in what he called “4D” and later “Dymaxion.” Fuller came up with some crazy shit, but some things like the Dymaxion Map (pictured folded together above) seem genius to me.

The exhibit gushes on Fuller’s tremendous innovation, but a concurrent New Yorker article by Elizabeth Kolbert is more quick to criticize. It seems that while Fuller’s inspiration is immeasurable, his track record is not that impressive. Geodesic domes have even been known to leak. However, I have a hard time caring. Fuller is a fountain of sci-fi inspiration and was known to have a pop culture knack. Placed at the beginning of the exhibit is a chart Fuller made of his own accomplishments. He charts them against major political events as well as popular dances throughout the twentieth century. Dude knew what was up.

Photo courtesy of flickr user super-structure.

Disposable Europe

We take pictures to supplement our visual memories. Aside from sheer artistic and aesthetic merit, no one needs convincing that pictures we take remind us of people, places, and things. I’ve heard that when we take pictures, it limits and focuses our memories, but it’s easy to give that up for the joy of fondly remembering something from a snapshot. Anyone who has ever had a camera stolen knows what a terrible feeling that can be. More after the jump.

A Paris Journal

Well I’m home. Bigger soda containers and even bigger automobiles. More culture shock reflections to come. Now, the first European post in retrospect. I’m going to try and hit the main places, though I may not go in order. Going to get my three disposable cameras developed soon.

As promised, here are my thoughts on Paris that I jotted down while I was there. I tried to get a “drawing” on each page. Almost. Sorry if you can’t read it, that’s my actual handwriting. Click to enlarge, more after the jump.

Florence: Art, Beans, Leather

Check that out. Pretty beautiful? Yeah. I went to Florence for two days. It was really beautiful and there was a lot of amazing art. Luckily, it was early enough that it wasn’t all tourists either. I went alone, which was pretty nice. It’s a little unusual to go anywhere you want on a whim, or just sit and take your time, because after all, it is your own. I’m not going to write a ton about Florence because so many people have been there and I’ve already done a lot of writing in the captions of my pictures.

I did pretty much everything I wanted to do, and got to eat a lot of really delicious Tuscan food, including crostini on polenta, minestrone soup with beans, and good steak. There was a lot of leather too, which at one time I would have been rather opposed to, but believe me, this stuff puts the “art” in “artisanal.” I had a little difficultly with my reservation at the Uffizi galleries, mainly because they it sent me seven hours after I needed it, but I ended up only waiting 20 minutes and they apologized in an email I received this morning:

On saturday there were some problems with internet due to some squake (is it correct?) of earthquake near Florence and we had no line for some hours, sorry again kind regards (on today we’ll do th erefund on your credit card)

I’m not sure about an earthquake, but whatever. It’s wonderful out here, and I hope it is where you live too.

Vactican Museum and Sistine Chapel

So, this afternoon I finally made it over to the Vatican Museum and within it, the Sistine Chapel. The museum is full of all things Christian. And as you make your way through, it’s mostly what you would expect: centuries worth of pillaged ancient statues and vases and crosses galore. But eventually I noticed that there was more than that, a lot really. I found a Dalì, and even a Botero. It seems that anything can pass as long as it is vaguely spiritual.

As soon as you enter, you are following signs for the Sistine Chapel. And eventually, after following signs for “Cappella Sistina” for at least twenty minutes, I got butterflies in my stomach. Now I’m not sure I should be so easily admitting this, but it felt like I was picking a girl up for a first date. And then when I did finally enter, it was overwhelming.

You get inside, and look up, and it’s kind of nauseating. The Sistine Chappel has been casually described as “the pinnacle of artistic creation.” And especially since the recent restoration, the frescoes really shine. It’s amazing, and you really have to sit down. And you’re not supposed to take any pictures, so I was holding my jacket in front of my camera, and then the flash went off by accident, and so I was all freaked out in addition to being really over-awed. Not surprisingly, I really like Werner’s Herzog’s quote about it on wikipedia:

Many years ago I went to the Vatican and looked at Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that before Michelangelo no one had ever articulated and depicted human pathos as he did in those paintings. Since then all of us have understood ourselves just that little bit deeper, and for this reason I truly feel his achievements are as great as the invention of agriculture.

Strong words, from a strong man. Anyway, here you can see the rest of my pictures from today, along with witty descriptions as always. Finally, right before I left I overheard a tour guide telling his group about how a big bro-dude from Boston ruined the Last Judgment for him by suggesting that the negative space (the blue) was the inspiration for Darth Vader.