Communist Daughter Nightmare Playlist

a different form of distribution

amelie von wulffen
(via artforum, here)

INTERACTIVE SCREEN

committing to an idea, realizing a gesture, no matter how small - brainstorming even, mapping ideas - transforms potential energy into kinetic energy. even thought patterns - the reinforcement of neural pathways - inscribe limiting and increasingly structured parameters. but these structures allow for momentum to build. reinforced structures may trade broad potential for specific, linear exploration.



reading and writing are linear activities. one can instantly 'read' the gestalt of a book (for example, by looking at its cover) but only with the recognition that this gestalt is the 'first word' within a directional text. one can also immediately 'read' a painting as a painting, or a table as a table - a word as a word - and stop there. but the potential for linear reading always exists. a line viewed head-on appears to be a point. 'recursive' and 'elliptical' readings occur within a linear structure. a moebius strip may read as an object - (and this reading may continue along these lines, as a sculptural or symbolic text) - but the strip itself (as a two dimensional text) is read linearly. the static 'gestalt' occurs in parallel with [the realization or potential of] a unidirectional reading.



i have been largely concerned with gestalt recently, and this has led to inaction. rather than texts (like this one) which extend a single line, i attempt to visual an entire text instantaneously. conceiving of certain points, imagining where intersections might occur if perspective is shifted. careful not to 'draw' these lines because of the linear nature of drawing. the seeming impossibility of non-linear creation within the linear context of time. the unavoidable loss of energy in transfer from potential to kinetic.

while working on 2001 i felt linear momentum that approximated that of 'reality'. a virtual world sustained by my own participation. recently i have felt less of a desire to escape the real world than to re-engage with it (with 2001 remaining a strong possibility). but how and for what purpose? i primarily experience privatized motives: to influence/engage the flow of cultural and monetary capital in a local setting, to form connections with others, to position oneself strategically within society, personal therapy.

is 'comics' as a cultural/historic text worth engaging and/or possible to avoid? reform or relocation is necessary in order for certain readings to occur on a mass/public scale. relocation involves adopting (and possibly reforming) new language. is there some inbetween - a space on the fringe of multiple languages in which creolization might occur?



the public reading of a text unalterably rewrites the text itself. the publishing company that publishes a work, the anthology that displays it, the store that sells it, these are determining factors in the creation of a text. language/design/gestalt is often the first word of a text. in this sense my attempt at nonlinear creation resembles linear writing, a line that runs from abstract (distributed authored object) to specific (individual private reading). am i simply stammering over the first word in a potential text?

Whatever...

I had a dream last night that a monster bacteria was wiping out everyone I worked with. I was somehow protected, and I went to my workplace to bring my wife into my protected sphere. After the disaster, I was shown an elaborate grid of scenes projected in a special room. Each scene or panel contained the life of a person who had died because of the plague. I could enter these squares and interact with the deceased, and it seemed amazing and revelatory to both me and them.

Of course, I can't really describe accurately in words the experience of the dream. I don't even know what dreams are. We attach linearity and solidity to immersive, diffuse experiences after we wake up.

What I was thinking about before I went to bed, in that hazy hypnogogic limbo, was how mimetic/conceptual bits of culture are 'things' best seen peripherally or understood whole-cloth the same way that I was saying junk culture is best interacted with in my previous post.

Right before that, I had been reading Maugham's "The Razor's Edge," an old favorite I've read many times, and thinking about how as a reading experience, it was much more engaging than "Finnegan's Wake" and came out at roughly the same time, though Joyce's book is decidedly more profound and will probably fare better as an objects of critical discussion over time.

David Foster Wallace was quoted in "Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself" comparing avant-garde literature to pop culture and saying that the more highbow literature required too much work on the reader's part to make it worthwhile, that the pop stuff was simply more enjoyable.

I still haven't finished Gravity's Rainbow, but there are ideas and forms within it that have changed my overall conception of the world. And there are very beautiful passages, too.

I was trying to make an argument about conceptual or challenging works being like Kirby's 2001 lying in my studio: as art objects or beautiful theoretical constructs they can be inspiring while lacking the ability to engage the reader/viewer in the interior world of the work.

All of this theorizing is just empty, a way for me to attempt to understand/justify the allure of old comics. And I'm, maybe, invalidating the argument from my previous post: pop culture as genre enterprise can be riveting in the moment head on, not just peripherally. Its value is in whatever pleasure it gives, I guess.

Like my dream, I can't unpack the swamp of my mental construct clearly enough to make my meaning understood, even to myself. Writing it out just shows me how muddy it will continue to be.

NOT-NOT ANTI-JUNK

"Anyhow, it seems like a very long time ago. But the point of even remembering the conversation, I think, is that there was an important fact behind the Christian girl’s ‘salvation’ story which I simply hadn’t understood at the time—and, to be honest, I don’t think she or the Christian did, either. It’s true that her story was stupid and dishonest, but that doesn’t mean the experience she had in the church that day didn’t happen, or that its effects on her weren’t real."

-DFW, from 'The Pale King'

Jesse McManus, Amy Kuttab, and I had a 'signing' this past Saturday for our free-comic-book-day offering. It was fun because I got to hang out with Jesse & Amy & Dave Nuss (who, while working at a video store in Claremont, CA mentioned to David Foster Wallace (who frequented the store, renting entire seasons of '24,' et al.) that he loved 'Infinite Jest,' upon which DFW responded, "You read that thing?"), but it was surreal because the comic we made is full of cocks and we had to make sure kids didn't get it and almost no one came in anyway. Jesse and I wandered around the store, but we couldn't find anything we were really interested in other than Austin's new book; There was too much stuff to parse - it was a glut - overload. I always feel that way at comic book stores or comics shows - the signal to noise ratio gets fucked, and I can't focus on anything.

Over the last couple of days I finally moved everything out of my old studio and into my new one. I was astonished at everything I had accumulated, and I felt like I had little connection to it. Ten, twenty years ago I would actively buy comics, but I rarely buy them anymore. It feels like a bunch of junk sometimes.

Both at this blog and elsewhere, over and over I've discussed merit, the desire for really 'good' comics. It led me to be stupidly binary. Junk culture can be important.

"One of the defining moments in my life happened when, in my mid-twenties (a very wannabe-nihilistic, gaping void period for me), I saw 'A Beautiful Mind.' It's, admittedly, a dumb movie, and I probably saw it with my parents when I was visiting them for Thanksgiving or Christmas because it's that type of hyper-inoffensive movie. I was struggling with the gap between my awareness of the will to power and my own inability to act amorally, and this Hollywood product solved my dilemma by suggesting that there could be a mathematical basis for acting 'morally'. The point of this is that because of the complexity of my context, this bit of pop culture had a profound affect on my life."

-J.O.

But the importance works best in sudden flashes, as a catalyst, an associational datum to interlock with the other puzzle pieces and give pleasure or insight. Over the last twenty plus years the lowbrow has been (and continues to be) mapped so exhaustively that weird, random discoveries (like Boody Rogers in Raw or Fletcher Hanks in Art out of Time) become tedious parts of comics history. Junk is better when you only see it on the periphery. When it's 'taken seriously,' historicized, it loses its freshness, its value as antidote.

The endless cataloging, defining wears me out. For me, art/literature/tv/film/whatever (not just trashy stuff but everything) works best as a bath to be submerged in, a pattern to be a part of - something that stipples the space you're interacting with (either visually or conceptually) and enriches you contextually.

RE-DESIGN

WHY COMICS?

1. Comics foster autonomous personal narratives due to an impotent metanarrative.



2. Total design is useful for creating and exploring virtual distributed networks of characters, objects, ideas, etc. Immersive and addictive environments like Facebook can be explored in ways other than pre-defined user interfaces.



3. The character exists to the creator as self and other simultaneously. This results in creative roleplay that bridges consumer/producer and observer/participant relationships.

New Skool

24 hour voting window now closed

FEEL ROMANTIC/NO ART STATUS III

I've been making this webcomic for a couple weeks now, but I'm taking a break from art for a few days while I visit my family in Texas.



It's been a lot of fun so far. The format is allowing me to get around issues I have with comics and art in general.

Excerpt from an email I sent to Derik Badman:

"I'm trying really hard to find ways to make webcomics that don't require the traditional tools and sequences of translation (pencil, ink, scan, threshold, indesign, print) that comics do. I really like your use of the Wacom, but that's never felt natural to me. I look at the pdfs I have on my site of my former printed work, and, while I still like those comics, I'm not comfortable reading them in that format on the web. And if I'm not, why should anyone else be? The lack of immediacy of their production is ridiculous. I think the web is the way to go, ultimately - essentially free to produce/consume and not limited to printing technology, but how to make it work and be compelling? Blaise and I have had many conversations about comics/film, additive vs. subtractive media, and this is my way to confront that head on (he's done several Warhol-ish webcomics already), to allow subtleties of light, angle, shape to build imagery for me. We'll see where it goes, but I'm really excited about it right now!"

Just a quick post now - more later...

WW, right?

The Disgusting Room / Domino Books

Hate to sully Comets Comets squeaky clean image with a post about personal projects, but I think CC can emerge unshaken once the dust settles. Here goes nuthin:

Today I get to announce to really big projects that I've been working on over the last year.

THE DISGUSTING ROOM, a 48 page, large format comic written and drawn by me and published by Sparkplug Comics is available starting TODAY! It premieres at MOCCA, but you can order it direct from Sparkplug now. Look for it in finer stores over the summer (or sooner).




I'm extremely proud of this book---I feel like I turned a corner while working on it, and now the skys the limit. Very excited its in print now and I hope you guys get something out of it.



I've also just launched a publishing company---DOMINO BOOKS. Our first book will be Sakura Maku's DARK TOMATO #1.




The book was designed by Comets Comets own Jason Overby! How about that.


I have been following Maku's work for years---her art has been a direct influence on my own. I love comics and I love working with other artists, so making this book with Sakura and launching DOMINO is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. DARK TOMATO will be available in early May, but we are accepting pre-orders now:

http://dominobooks.org/dtomatoonesakura.html

Ok. Back to the regular shenanigans. Thanks for your indulgence.

BLAISE IS GONE

Blaise has left Portland to live with Andy Burkholder and Leslie Weibeler in Chicago, and eventually to become a CCS fellow in White River Junction, VT. While I will miss him very much, I am eager to explore my freedom, no longer on his short leash; Without Blaise to counsel me, get ready for more unrestrained JO. viva indulgence...

RE-DESIGN

JASON WEAR II

"The simpler the object is, the less information it conveys." -James Gleick

"Information is surprise." -Gleick (again)

Blaise stopped by my studio yesterday to have a talk with me about my last post.  He reminded me that our "brand" hinges on being "outside" the "conventional wisdom" of comic-nerd qualititative analyses.  My beef with Ware (coldness, dullness) was, in other words, boring.  My character's role, though, is the blathering, spastic one so, of course I would periodically misstep & that's OK.  OWATEGUSIAM.

The better tactic, we decided, would have been to criticize Ware, the person, for falling into the standard cartoonist trap of overwork, depression, curmudgeonliness. I should've explored better how the narrow path of craft stems from his philosophic substructure vis a vis his social awkwardness and despair.

Ware is cool but not "cool."  He is scalable form, not content.  He doesn't reconfigure himself or his work to suit its context.  He is not involved in "reality."

We have adopted CF as our mascot because he is cool in the wider world/nom-comics-centric sense, and we hope that by surrounding ourselves with "coolness," we can elevate the medium to the level of sexier disciplines like film or music.

To acheive this locally, I will make comics about drugs, apple products, popular music blogs, etc.

I apologize for that last post.

-sent from my iPhone (dumb joke)

Errata: Blaise=shark & JO=amoeba

Final Purge

JORDAN OVERBY

 "Ware is building mathematical lattices out of semantic units. But I’m with cbren and a lot of folks – it doesn’t have any humanity for me. There is an undercurrent of sneering black humor, an acceptance that drudgery and boredom are one’s lot in life, a wallowing in being unwilling to change one’s situation. Soul-crushing despair is not the price you pay for genius. To me, Ware’s work is really boring. He is definitely a talented, highly intelligent person, but I don’t get anything out of his narratives other than the structure and the design. I’m probably wrong, but I have the feeling that folks sometimes equate depression and intelligence with worth. There’s so much smart culture that is enjoyable or exciting or beautiful, but Ware sucks the life out of me without giving anything back. I’m not meaning to sound vitriolic, either, and I think I understand his appeal, but I’d rather read CF." -J.O.

"this obliterated the distinction between data and Instructions. In the end, they were all numbers.  For every computable number, there must be a corresponding machine number." -James Gleick

“Eighty percent of success is showing up." -Woody Allen

Jesse lent me the most recent Acme Novelty Library (Lint) a couple weeks ago, and I really wanted to read it, the preeminent example of modern comics craftsmanship, but I couldn't stomach it after the first couple of pages:

Ware is, for sure, the penultimate craftsman, but Lint is like craft in a vaccuum, with blinders on - he's dialed in his form, but the pictograms rely too much on craft qua craft to the detriment of aesthetic or narrative concerns.  They're too concerned with consistency;  Like the man says:

"Any effectively generated theory capable of expressing elementary arithmetic cannot be both consistent and complete."

The story is the expected middle class curmudgeonly white person schtick:

And the drawings are like Richard McGuire's later stuff: too anal-stage-y for me.  They lack romance, beauty - poetry.

I like how diagrammatic it is, though; I've been trying to be more prose-y, myself, lately, but I try to avoid making a slick machine of it:

This post by Noah Berlatsky and this one from Caro come to mind; are we just excited still that comics are delving into "real," "adult" issues?  & that they're beginning to have some degree of the sophistication w/r/t representation/meta-representation of other media?  Is subtlety important at all?

Is this really the best we can do?

NEW CRITICISM

Criticism as it exists now, as a vehicle which accepts or rejects comics objects, is powerless to create a narrative of its own. It is always the reader of someone else's story. It only exists after the object and therefore it perpetually plays catch-up. It adds footnotes and amendments but never begins a new chapter.

The word "comics" joins the words "scuptures", "paintings", "videos", and "films" in describing categories of objects which can be bought and sold. "Comics" also denotes a medium, a practice, but at the root of this word is a stack of books, pamphlets, and original art, a web archive of jpegs, a folder of pdfs. To be a critic of comics is therefore to be a critic of objects, to be at the very least a consumer, and at the very best a connoisseur. In comics jargon, one might say it is to be a "fan".

This is to say that the comics critic does not feel it is in his or her place to practice criticism as a creator. As creators become more discursive in their work, expanding and projecting outward, critics become more formulaic, conservative, and irrelevant, moving their seats ever further back, insisting they are only capable of playing one role: the spectator.

Yet this role does not resemble the spectator of today, who exists in a fluid matrix of online interaction, but the spectator of sixty years ago, who felt ultimately alienated from sites of production. The object was a link to these sites, a distraction from them, and a shield from them. Like abstract art, like the silver screen, the object was built for projection.

The object ceases to be an object when the spectator cannot see past it, when it envelops his or her entire line of vision, when the creator is hidden behind it.

The only way out of this trap is a bold and intelligent practice of meta-criticism. The critic must turn his or her gaze on his or her environment, and view his or her surroundings not as a parade of critical objects which must be reviewed, catalogued, and responded to, but as the setting of a new work yet to be written. The critic must recognize that creation and criticism lie on a narrative continuum separated only by medium. The object is not a bridge across the two, but a point in a constellation, a prop in a play.