productivity and comics on the brain

it's been an inside week, inside my apartment, inside my head. but that usually means some kind of work is getting done, and the best indicator of things happening is a messy desk. (i hate a messy desk. but if it means productivity then so be it.) i've been working on some story ideas and a few pieces for an upcoming housewarming/art show i'm planning this fall. ladders will figure prominently for some unknown reason.






i ventured out this evening to a little gallery/store called Jigsaw in Alphabet City that is owned by a friend of a friend from Austin. a nice little space, it was full of comic and zine enthusiasts and artists hanging out to celebrate the publication of comic artist Neil Kleid's latest graphic novella "Ninety Candles."

(i like comics but have always felt they were a bit much to keep up with. going into a comic store is intimidating and overwhelming to say the least. and i also don't need anything else to collect. i've got a shelf full of children's books and boxes of toy figures and random plastic monster heads and tchotchkes that it pains me to think about it. and my comic reading as a kid tended toward lighter fare, Richie Rich, Bugs Bunny, Archie. as i got older i chose comics purely for their visual look and style of illustration.)

but the stuff at Jigsaw was really inspiring. i purchased a few mini-comics and self-published/xeroxed stuff by Dan Moynihan and Todd Webb. visually, i'm drawn to strong ink lines and the simpler, more graphic stuff. and i love the fact artists will make up little books of their work and just put it out there to share. it doesn't have to be bound and glossy to be worthwhile.

i also just finished reading Michael Chabon's "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" about a couple of cousins who create a comic book while living in New York city during the 1940s. It's an epic story, complex and vast, and sad and inspiring. It manages to be light and heavy at the same time and very readable. Chabon won the Pulitizer for it in 2001.

all this makes me want to experiment with the medium a bit. in due time.