This is a good example of the power of art. You've taken the psychological state Robert Hughes calls "slothful regression", in reference to a Philip Guston painting, and made something incredibly expressive out of it. The journal-writing and grave panels remind me of pictures of Dostoyevsky. I don't know how you nail the shape of your head like that, or pack so much feeling into a few lines of a face. The group of students, with a different distinct personality in each figure, has the alienating effect I know you were going for. I'm curious to know if the final panel is a direct reference to the Crimson King album cover or just an image that surfaced.
What makes me believe that Pedestrian is publishable, aside from the insight and real life elements, is the originality of the drawing. Even some very good professional artists at least have recognizable influences, if they aren't flat-out imitators. Someone could say Pekar is an influence in terms of subject matter (although you'd never heard of him when you began, and your real life material and his are utterly different) but the look of your drawings is all your own, and improving all the time.
I have Orchard on my dresser, but there's plenty of room for a volume of Pedestrian too.
2 comments:
Had I not known this was written nearly four years ago, I would have been scared. The imagery is terrifying; the art is TOO good. So keep it going.
This is a good example of the power of art. You've taken the psychological state Robert Hughes calls "slothful regression", in reference to a Philip Guston painting, and made something incredibly expressive out of it. The journal-writing and grave panels remind me of pictures of Dostoyevsky. I don't know how you nail the shape of your head like that, or pack so much feeling into a few lines of a face. The group of students, with a different distinct personality in each figure, has the alienating effect I know you were going for. I'm curious to know if the final panel is a direct reference to the Crimson King album cover or just an image that surfaced.
What makes me believe that Pedestrian is publishable, aside from the insight and real life elements, is the originality of the drawing. Even some very good professional artists at least have recognizable influences, if they aren't flat-out imitators. Someone could say Pekar is an influence in terms of subject matter (although you'd never heard of him when you began, and your real life material and his are utterly different) but the look of your drawings is all your own, and improving all the time.
I have Orchard on my dresser, but there's plenty of room for a volume of Pedestrian too.
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