In my neighbourhood.
The jacarandas are in bloom.
(click for larger, Mum)
*********
Regarding my blather of Sunday last, I closed down the comments when once again it looked like everybody thought I was just arguing about words. I then decided that the whole concept is an artistic dead end and that I would never mention it again, but today I find a useful article (via Tom Spurgeon):
Interview with Steven Heller, Critic- at the Gothamist- October 22, 2007
Author, critic and journalist Steven Heller ... launched the careers of some of our most well-known illustrators, but also chronicled graphic design in more than 100 books. Heller also has been a contributing editor to Print, Eye, Baseline and I.D.,...
Do you think illustration is dying?I have already written about and linked to articles regarding what is called in design circles 'authorial illustration', a way of thinking which embraces the 'graphic novel' as one of its modes. This relates to what I was saying in that it was my intention to inspire the reader to think outside of comic book culture. That is, the task is NOT to invent new terms or clarify the old ones but to shift one's whole point of view. To stand in a new position in order to make visible what was previously obscured behind other objects, and NOT to just to stand in the same spot and change one's socks.
I did a couple of years ago. I think it’s coming back. Marshall Arisman and I are kind of suffering over a book about the new illustration, suffering because Marshall is in his late 60s and he’s set in his very creative ways and doesn’t really see all of what’s going out there that’s new. It’s coming back in a different way.
How? How are illustrators finding relevance?
More as entrepreneurs and visual essayists. In childrens’ books and graphic novels. In toys, games, T-shirts, hats, street fashion. An awful lot is going on where illustrators’ hands, eyes and minds are being used in way that we would consider are not traditional ways. Go into Giant Robot and take a look around. Go to Paris and see graphic novels galore.
Labels: in my neighbourhood
posted by Eddie Campbell at
00:43
17 Comments:
You sad bastard. You couldn't leave it alone. At least, the jacarndas look lovely. Mick :)
Oooo, pretty !
*goes off to check what type of tree this is*
Ah jacarndas, yes they are lovely, but they always remind me of end of year exams.
Dan
Wow.
Over here, the trees are gettin' nekkid.
And I'm carving punkinheads.
Do they have a particular smell?
no smell at all.
photgraphed three different ones before I decided that was the one to go with.
Steven Heller: top guy, great books.
Brief piece on Fletcher Hanks (whom I'd never heard of) on the Guradin Blog:
'I shall destroy all conventional narratives!'
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/10/i_shall_destroy_all_convention.html
Gorgeous tree by the way. It looked like it might be a brightly coloured autumn here for a moment, but it hasn't quite made it, so it's lots of pretty browns and yellows instead. There's a fantastic red and purple Acer in Battersea Park though.
Ben Smith
Eddie,
I couldn't find your e-mail address, so I'm posing this question here:
Are you, by chance, still in contact with Dave Harwood? I'm trying to track him down to ask him a question for a reference book that I'm working on and haven't been able to find him. Any help would be immensely appreciated.
Cheers,
Victor
May I ask about one passage from the "comments closed" post? "I haven't read the (Best American Comics) book under review and I have no intention of doing so." That sounds pretty final. Why wouldn't you want to look at it?
The jacarandas are lovely.
aaron
'comics' have become for me like celery. the amount of energy required to consume them is greater than the nutrients obtained.
that probably puts me in tune with Heidi's critique. My more urgent point was that Heidi's piece was being used by people neither Heidi nor i agree with. (see her latest on the subject):
"The worst offender is undoubtedly this guy who, shamefully, actually thinks he agrees with me. No you don’t, and just go away."
" . . . it looked like everybody thought I was just arguing about words."
I thought you were arguing about people arguing about words.
Elias Hiebert
fteighov
no
we'll be having none of that
Can't say I've followed every nook and cranny of this argument, but I like the cut of your jib, Campbell.
none of my pals can spell jacaranda
Victor, sorry, I haven't spoken to dave in near ten years.
ben, thanks, will check
Anthony, Thanks , welcome aboard if you aren't a regular
and here's a close up of those purple blossoms from the wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jacaranda_in_Blossom.jpg
... tho i hasten to add that my own photo is one I took yesterday, with one foot on monty's leash to keep him from doing a runner.
What? It's Spring there?
Many, many years ago I was having dinner with a certain comic book artist you admire and he told me that no comic book work was art. I argued with him, thinking he was kidding, or playing the Devil's Advocate just to get the conversation going. Nope. He was adamant. No comic book work by anyone anywhere anytime was "art" (especially not his, he admitted). "Not even Will Eisner?" I asked, knowing that he and Eisner were an item. "Nope. Not even Will Eisner's comics work is art."
Of course I thought he was full of it then, and I do now.
Just to keep things in perspective. Some argue over what is a graphic novel, and some will argue that comics aren't even art.
I can see why you would want to shut down such an excercise in semantics. It could go on forever. But, considering your line of work, and since you opened this can of worms in the first place, let it ride. You'll likely find something in your guests' comments that will make it worth reading.
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