SHORT
STORIES
A series of short stories begun in 2019. First in foremost exercises in visual storytelling, the project was born from an interest in history, politics, various 20th century literary and film genres and comics/graphic novels of the 70's and 80's.
A fictional work still in progress, the project melds together broadly revisionist takes on horror, science fiction, comedy and drama with issues relating to political corruption, satire, societal apathy, technology's burden, inequalities of class, race and gender within the framework of a colonial past.
By no means wholly dry, the works primary concern is to entertain as well as engage the reader.
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Stomata 2020
Ink on paper
23 x 29 cm
Set within a fictional world, however not wholly dissimilar to our own, the project was primarily born from a number of science fiction novels I had begun writing in the early 2010's. Increasingly frustrated with its pacing and how overly convoluted they had become I set them aside and engaged more thoroughly with my artistic practice at the time. During this break a renewed interest in comics resurfaced, in particular the anthology based counter culture comic magazines of the 50's-80's as well as post modernist fiction of the time. I began to think of disassembling ideas from the novels into a number of short stories that would reduce the complex nature of the novel and strip it down to some of its original ideas and intentions. It also brought to the surface a number of preconceived ideas I had about the efficacy of comics themselves, as either literary or artistic products in line with my own attitude towards creative legitimacy. Insecurity's such as regarding myself as either an artist at the bane of a literary fantasy or a window-dressing writer soon became irrelevant when faced with the unique challenge's and rewards the project entailed. If anything, the very challenges the project has produced since its inception has only deepened my admiration for the creative intricacy's that tie literature, art and film together.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt
'Shall I switch on the ceiling light?' the doctor asked, merely to find something to say.
(À Suivre)
Issue 62, Casterman
1983
Manis & Gill 2019,
Preliminary pencil drawing
on paper (full page)
Manis & Gill 2019
Preliminary pencil drawing
on paper (single panel)
Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.
Angela Carter
Kurt Vonnegut
Canary in a Cat house
Gold Medal Books
1961
Alter Alter
Issue 11, Baldini & Castoldi
1979
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Midnight at Mason 2020
Preliminary pencil drawing on
paper (full page)
Midnight at Mason 2020
Preliminary pencil drawing
on paper (single panel)
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1. Thomas Pynchon The Crying of Lot 49 1965
2. Sensations' Fix Music is Painting in the Air 1974-1977
3. CD-57 Crypto AG 1957
4. Paul Thek
5. Robby Müller Baywater Hotel, 1985
6. COINTELPRO Internal memo 1967
7. Hal Asby's drivers license 1970
8. Maria Sibylla Merian
9. Katsuhiro Otomo Short Peace 1979
10. Joan Didion The White Album 1979
11.Ursula K. Le Guin
12. Ettore Sottsass Synthesis 45 1972
As a story is written and thumb-nailed, a garbled assortment of referential material is usually sifted through back and forth during this process. Ultimately these tonal maps act as oblique reminders of the stories original intentions and specific feel.