A monograph by surrealist illustrator, Boris Artzybasheff, was just rereleased by Titan Books last month. Entitled As I See, this book was of utmost importance to many artists in the comix and Juxtapoz scenes. I can't wait to get my paws on it.
I just finished reading the book Wide Eyed
Some other reasons why Trinie Dalton rules: 1. She is also an artist (the book cover is an example of her visual work). 2. She has another book coming out called MYTHTYM
Trinie Dalton, Phantasmaphile salutes you!
I just reread one of my favorite books from when I was a teenager, Still Life with Woodpecker
And that is just from the intro. If you are looking for a book with some of the most exuberant, florid language you've ever read, and that is satirical, sexy, mystical, and surreal, then this is the story for you. It is also chock full of blackberries, pyramids, lunar mythology, royalty, love, and dynamite. You know, if you're into that sort of thing.
by Lindsay Clarke. It is an English novel written in the 1980s that jumps between contemporary times and the 19th century. Both sets of characters in each time period are involved in quests to find out the true secrets of alchemy. I don't want to say too much more about the plot than that, as it is a 500+ page journey that is best taken page by page. But I will say that it is a beautifully written story, filled to bursting with mystery, psychology, and magic. And the best fictional account of alchemy as a spiritual practice that I have yet encountered. (As an added synchronicity bonus, I was delighted to discover none other than Marty Blake did the cover art.) Highly recommended. I've been meaning to write about the MoCCA Art Festival, which I attended a couple weeks back. It is a spectacular annual showcase of indie (and not so indie) comics and artsy small presses, very rocknroll. Every year I wander around this carnival in a blissed out daze, discovering new artists and filling my bag with loot. This year was a particularly good one, as Lynda Barry was a special guest, and the overall talent was formidable.
I wanted to highlight one of my favorite found treasures: Milk-Teeth is a full color comic by Kate Allen. It features mostly wordless vignettes about mythological creatures, but with a markedly adult spin. Princesses and unicorns suck face, feathers are singed, homicides are committed. And it's all drawn with a capricious yet contemporary eye. You should absolutely pick up a copy here ASAP. I have no doubt Ms. Allen's star is on the rise, and you can say you knew her when.
Lynda Barry is one of my living heroines. Her comics and novels are exuberant and hilarious, and perfectly capture the bittersweetness of the adolescent experience. I think her stories rings so profoundly true due to their innate specificity. Whether she is sharing fragments of her own memories - as in her astounding graphic novella One Hundred Demons
As we all know, the thing about actually meeting one's hero or heroine is that they can be rather disappointing people in real life. So it was a leap of faith for me when I decided to take her writing workshop, Writing the Unthinkable, a few years back. Not only was it an inspiring and instructive experience from a crafting standpoint, but it made my love for Ms. Barry grow twentyfold, as she was every bit as funny, warm, and badass in person as I had always imagined - perhaps even more so.
In addition to reading all of her past work, I highly encourage you all to read this great article about her in yesterday's Times. In it, she talks about her newest book, What It Is
UPDATE: I just received the book and it is huge and breathtakingly beautiful.
Jason Levesque Cover for Comic Book Tattoo
Image Comics recently made an announcement that completely blew my mind, as it yields a convergence of so many of my favorite things. This summer, they will be releasing Comic Book Tattoo, an anthology of graphic interepretations of dozens of songs from the Tori Amos canon, edited by Rantz Hoseley. (The title is a lyric from her fantastic B-side, "Flying Dutchman.") The list of artists involved is staggering, and includes such comics luminaries as Mike Dringenberg
“When I was crashing at her place back during the writing and recording of [1992's] Little Earthquakes, I was buying a lot of comics, and I’d leave them lying around,” he explained. “Eventually, I ended up convincing her to read some of them, which she loved. Books like ‘Sandman,’ ‘Omaha,’ some of Ted McKeever’s work from that era, ‘A Distant Soil’ as well as some others. That ended up leading to Tori writing the line in ‘Tear in Your Hand’ where she name-drops Neil [Gaiman] and Sandman, which lead to me sneaking an early mix copy of the album to Neil at that year’s [Comic-Con International in San Diego]. When Little Earthquakes was released, I ended up with the misspelled ‘credit’ on that song as ‘Sandman comic supplier’, so Tori’s and my comic connection goes back almost as long as I’ve known her.”
It struck me recently that three of my all-time favorite books have the word "history" in the title:
A Natural History of the Senses
The Secret History
The Secret History of the World
Craig Conley is a man of so many wonders, it is difficult to know how to begin speaking about him and his work. First and foremost, he is a scholar of language, symbology, and magic, and has written many books on these topics. For simplicity's sake, I am going to list some of them here, as the titles alone are enough to make one's brain buzz happily:
One-Letter Words: A Dictionary
Magic Archetypes: The Art Behind the Science of Conjuring
A Field Guide to Identifying Unicorns by Sound
....and that's just the beginning. I would also add that the design of these books is nothing short of delightful, stuffed as they are with old engravings and marvelous esoteric iconography.
In addition to his blog, books, and articles, Mr. Conley has also put a great deal of care and imagination into the architecture of his various web sites. I encourage you to visit them all, click around, and play the multitude of games and divination exercises he has devised.
There, that should occupy you for many miracula-filled moments. Enjoy!
Every now and then, something so special enters your life that you feel as though it was created just for you. I've said that I was born with a Promethea
Promethea is a comic book series created by the illustrious Alan Moore. There is no way I can possibly do it justice, other than to say it is an ingenious treatise about imagination and magic, as well as a damn good yarn about a young woman named Sophie who discovers that she is the newest incarnation of a powerful demi-goddess (for lack of a better word) named Promethea. It is an absolute extravaganza, cram-packed with mysticism, the occult, alchemy, mythology, Tarot, Kabbalah, sci-fi, history, human emotion, and scathing satire about the modern world. And it has perhaps the most beautiful, most mind-boggling art I have ever seen in this medium, courtesy of J.H. Williams III. I don't want to give anything more away about this precious masterpiece. It is out in five trade paperback volumes. Do see for yourself.
I just finished rereading one of my favorite childhood books, and it was even better than I recalled. Monica Furlong's Wise Child
Rejoice! The NY Art Book Fair is happening this weekend:
LOCATION
548 West 22nd Street (10th & 11th Aves), NYC (map)
FAIR HOURS
Friday/Saturday, September 28/29, 2007, 11am - 7pm
Sunday, September 30, 2007, 11am - 5pm
BENEFIT PREVIEW
Thursday, September 27, 2007, benefiting Printed Matter, Inc.
6 - 7 pm, early admission to preview
7 - 9 pm, general admission to preview
I went last year, and picked up some awesome prints from Max Ernst's surrealist collage novel Une Semaine De Bonte
I just finished reading a book that was so good I kissed it when it was done. The Last Witchfinder
What an amazing life.
I just finished one of the most heart-achingly beautiful books I have ever read. Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine consists of a series of vignettes that take place during the summer of 1928 in Greentown, Illinois. Each episode is written with extreme sensory richness and sensitivity. The book shifts point of view often, though many of the stories are seen through the eyes of Douglas Spaulding, a 12 year-old boy learning lessons about life and death during one golden season. If you read it, you'll be treated to such delicious passages as this:
"...One night each week, he was allowed to leave his father, his mother, and his younger brother Tom asleep in their small house next door and run here, up the dark spiral stairs to his grandparents' cupola, and in this sorcerer's tower sleep with thunders and visions, to wake before the crystal jingle of milk bottles and perform his ritual magic.
He stood at the open window in the dark, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
The street lights, like candles on a black cake, went out. He exhaled again and again, and the stars began to vanish."
And that's only in the first chapter! Bradbury recently released a sequel, entitled Farewell Summer.
Ok. So I realize I may be the last person on earth to have read The Da Vinci Code
Now, I'm going to subject myself to the movie. I'm told it's a very watered down version, as Sony had to placate the religious right. GRRRR. Still, I'm curious.
Ohhhh, yes. Jon Beinart, of the glorious Beinart International Surreal Art Collective, has just published a book called Metamorphosis. It features the work of 50 surreal and visionary artists, and is one of the few existing comprehensive volumes of its kind. It features pieces by such Phantasmaphile favorites as Carrie Ann Baade and Laurie Lipton. Can't wait to get my copy!
I just finished the 500+ page opus that is Women Who Run with the Wolves
"Fairy tales, myths, and stories provide understandings which sharpen our sight so that we can pick out and pick up the path left by the wildish nature. The instruction found in story reassures us that the path has not run out, but leads women deeper, and more deeply still, into their own knowing...When women reassert their relationship with the wildish nature, they are gifted with a permanent and internal watcher, a knower, a visionary, an oracle, an inspiratrice, an intuitive, a maker, a creator, an inventor, and a listener, who guide, suggest, and urge vibrant life in the inner and outer worlds."
Right on.
This wonderfully hefty new book, Saudek: A Jan Saudek Retrospective,
It was only a matter of time. An utter inevitability, in fact. Yes, I am officially obsessed with the comic series, Fables
I like to say that Tori Amos was my musical gateway drug. If it weren't for her, I might still be listening to C&C Music Factory and Paula Abdul. But when I was in sixth grade, my best friend played the miraculous Little Earthquakes
Now, approximately 15 years later, I find myself gravitating back to her, and those earlier albums which gave me so much inspiration and armor. I recently finished reading Tori Amos: Piece by Piece
"All storytellers, all troubadours worth their salt know their myths...Muhammad, Zeus, Lucifer, Josephine. They are all on the list. As I'm sitting at my piano, in a piano bar somewhere in the galaxy, I look out and see them in the crowd. The Archetypes have all arrived. Josephine fighting for a seat next to Cleopatra. Freyja, surrounded by her cats, hand on her necklace, head thrown back in the air with a throaty giggle, as Aphrodite brings her up to date on her latest sexploits. Pele letting her hair down and chalking her cue, knocking some balls into the net with Isis...I'm not sure those in the audience are aware of the Archetypes they carry. We all carry them. These Archetypes are not only embodied by the songs, but they run through all of our lives, just in different amounts."
For those who are interested, a complete boxed set
I so want to go to this!!!
Lord Whimsy is a connoisseur of all things dandy and delightful. His book, The Affected Provincial's Companion, Vol. I
I just finished reading To Have And To Hold: An Intimate History Of Collectors and Collecting
But then other portions are much less lively. The book is at its best when Blom has his analytic hat on, and gives his interpretations of what collecting means, and why it is significant. In sum, he posits that accumulating objects is an endless quest to stave off death. However, why some people choose to collect thimbles while others seek Fiji mermaids is left entirely open to interpretation. I thought this was an informative, if slow, read and recommend it to history buffs in particular, who might have a little more patience with fact recitals than I do.
I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, 
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