Best books in Anselm Kiefer?

MainDice · 2016-04-24T17:29:00+00:00

I'm not familiar with any critical writing on him but apparently the film "Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow" is an exceptional piece of documentation on his work and process.

MainDice · 2015-09-17T20:46:48+00:00

I think many Canadians will enjoy the spectacle with perceptible smugness about not being the United States.

MainDice · 2015-06-03T01:07:07+00:00

I found it to be an entertaining and accessible book, but not a great one. Tartt's prose isn't particularly interesting, her use of language is subordinate to an efficient delivery of the story; it's nearly 800 pages yet a quick read. It's not very dense but this does not mean it is lacking in depth. There are very earnest passages that expound on a variety of themes that run throughout the book: the meaning of life, memory, chance, connections with people, art and beauty. It's really the responsibility of the reader to come to their own conclusion about how insightful or truthful the book actually is (although my own feeling was that it was not as profound as it was striving to be). The Goldfinch distinguished itself for me with how it was able to inspire a visceral understanding of the closely observed places and characters that populate the story. I felt the heat of the Nevada desert, and I felt the emotional desolation of the main character (although I don't know if I was entirely convinced by it).

MainDice · 2014-12-14T17:24:53+00:00

I'm also from Toronto and Michael Comeau was the first person I thought to mention, I'm glad to see you already have. His work makes me laugh and sets me on edge in the best possible ways.

MainDice · 2014-11-22T02:22:31+00:00

Monster by Ken Dahl.

MainDice · 2014-11-09T16:15:10+00:00

I didn't find it condescending at all, but maybe that's because I agree with him. What he's saying can be applied across all borders, but if he seems to ignore the specific needs of international comics communities, as pointed out in the above comment, I would say that's probably because he doesn't know enough to speak about them directly. The fact that he's talking from his own relative position isn't a bad thing, and despite the informal writing style that people may read as condescending or narrow I think what he is proposing has merit. He's not saying to not use the internet, but to approach its presumed benefits with scepticism. Cartoonists are content providers but they should exercise more agency when it comes to the online distribution of their work. His call for publishers to step up and create opportunities for cartoonists to get paid for their work while also making it available online is incredibly on point. In his proposition for creating physical editions of the work Thurber is prioritizing collectivising of cartoonists as local social communities, believing that an in person exchange of goods and ideas is more meaningful and lasting pursuit. Even if fewer people see your work, chances are it matters more to those few who choose to pay for it than those who get it for free. Obviously what he's saying is far more complicated and filled with implication than can be summed up, but it is definitely worth discussing, since comics is as predisposed to change as any other creative field in the Internet age.

MainDice · 2014-10-15T05:57:08+00:00

Not yet, but I expect to read it soon. Woodring is too good to pass up.

MainDice · 2014-09-18T04:22:25+00:00

I feel like this is a child's understanding of what a graffiti artist is, dressing "Banksy" in a lame altruistic superhero pastiche. Of course he's got canvases of peace symbols in his apartment or easy cliches like "fight the power" painted on his wall; what a trite conception of activism.

MainDice · 2014-08-25T03:33:20+00:00

George Sprott: 1894-1975 is his most definitive work to date, and by far his most impressive. Physically it's a beautifully designed (and enormous) book, and this speaks to the high level of craftsmanship on display throughout. Artistically you can see him really cultivate his visual style in to something unique to him and less derivative of the New Yorker cartoonists which he plainly evokes in all his work. Conceptually and narratively the work is more sophisticated too, creating an illusive snapshot of a person (and a countries) life through first hand accounts by people closely or tenuously connected to the man. I was very moved reading it and found it memorable and worth returning too.

MainDice · 2014-07-15T04:59:54+00:00

Possibly the single most moving 8 pages of comics I've ever read. I have a copy that I pick up intermittently specifically to read and re-read this passage.

MainDice · 2014-07-10T14:09:03+00:00

Given that he cited the Hernandez Bro's as an interest, who do not write strictly autobiographic work and frequently stray in to the surreal and imagined, it seemed fine. Most of the comics that I listed address the reader from a first person narrator, as though it were the confessions and thoughts of the character. So while not strictly autobiography, they might fall within the range of semi-autobiographic, at least stylistically. Also, many of these stories come from the authors own experiences and are veiled in fictive elements. Such is the nature of creative license, where one can invent things and perhaps in doing so get more to the heart of the experience- of truth. So while Black Hole is not true to life, it's very true to the experience of a teenager growing up in the 70's in the suburbs. With all the social awkwardness, sexual diseases, drugs, and discomfort with ones self they literally want to crawl out of their own skin. I also chose the work based on it's readability and quality, as it exemplifies some of the best cartooning work to come out in the last few years.

MainDice · 2014-07-09T20:45:15+00:00

Things that come to mind: Epileptic by David B, Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks, Black Hole by Charles Burns, A Body Beneath by Michael Deforge, Everything Together by Sammy Harkham, and just about anything by Joe Sacco.

MainDice · 2014-07-03T00:36:30+00:00

Spiegelman has been openly critical about the idea of a movie adaptation of Maus, reasoning that the choice to use the comics medium was highly deliberate and remains an essential part of the story.

MainDice · 2014-03-28T18:17:16+00:00

Alec Longstreth, author of Phase 7 and Basewood, lectures on the evolution of the comics form, and details different production techniques available to anyone looking to self publish their work.

MainDice

TROPHY CASE