Um artigo de Michel Faber, para ler no Guardian on-line. E quem ainda não conheça o livro de Robert Crumb, pode ver algumas das suas pranchas no site do mesmo jornal, aqui.

"East of Eden"

This is my new exhibition.

I’m going to say a few quick profound things about it which you can either read or skip, but people ask all the time what things mean, so this is my attempt to counter-act the impending questions.

I’ll begin by stating the obvious: I am using a title that John Steinbeck gave to a book he wrote, which was published in 1952, and which is a work of art that I admire ridiculously and helplessly.  Steinbeck in turn got it from the Bible.

But I don’t necessarily mean to make a direct reference to the Bible or even to Steinbeck’s book – although traces of it I know have lodged themselves deep into my anatomy, as they should.  Rather, I’m making a reference to the quiet and startling drama those words are heavy with in my opinion.

They give me the idea of something fatally misplaced by a few inches.  Transparently wrong, but maybe in such a gentle way that it can go unnoticed by millions of onlookers.

The imagery in this show is kind of hinged on that idea.  The work was mostly finished when I put the title on it, but as always, the right title explains a lot of things to myself about my work.

I think it’s safe to presume that “East of Eden” is a good match.  There’s probably someone out there who disagrees, but as R. Crumb said the other night, “You can’t please everyone.”

Below is all the info for you to get to the exhibition.  I hope you will make it.  You are excused if there is a major body of water in the way.

All the best,

Mercedes.

14 November to 19 December 2009

MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY

170 S. La Brea Ave.

Los Angeles, CA. 90036

No way! The guy who created “Fritz the Cat” (remember THAT one?),the now famous artist, Robert Crumb, has taken on a comic version of the Old Testament!

He “thought making a comic book would make it easier to read” for a modern audience. Yeah, I can see that, I guess.

He spent time on research, too. “The old Hollywood Bible movies were actually a help”. Sure they were, Bob. “I mean, I really had to learn how to draw to make this book”! Bet you did, Bob. Bet you did.

See Here.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with different coloring techniques – some of them were successful and some of them were … less than successful.  What I’ve come to realize time and time again is that my true talent lies more with black and white drawing.  When I’m using pen and ink I manage to get so much more detail.  Not to mention the fact that I love working with cross-hatching.  A drawing done with lots of detail and cross-hatching can feel more intricate and personal because you know the artist took the time to make every single mark on that page – and there are quite a lot of them!

Two of my biggest cross-hatching influences are R. Crumb and Jamie Tanner. Crumb recently published an illustrated version of the book of Genesis that is fantastic and Jamie Tanner is the author of The Aviary. He is currently working on a second book thanks to the support of myself and other backers over at Kickstarter.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with different coloring techniques – some of them were successful and some of them were … less than successful.  What I’ve come to realize time and time again is that my true talent lies more with black and white drawing.  When I’m using pen and ink I manage to get so much more detail.  Not to mention the fact that I love working with cross-hatching.  A drawing done with lots of detail and cross-hatching can feel more intricate and personal because you know the artist took the time to make every single mark on that page – and there are quite a lot of them!

Two of my biggest cross-hatching influences are R. Crumb and Jamie Tanner. Crumb recently published an illustrated version of the book of Genesis that is fantastic and Jamie Tanner is the author of The Aviary. He is currently working on a second book thanks to the support of myself and other backers over at Kickstarter.

Temos estado ocupados. A nossa desculpa para a ausência fomos buscá-la a William Blake, pela mão do desenhador Robert Crumb, na sua Art & Beauty Magazine (Taschen). Reflexão desenhada e comentada sobre o modelo artístico feminino. Temos para nós que o teatro nunca deve esquecer que é uma arte popular. Blake, exemplo daquele que não pára na escada da visão e do sublime, pensava o mesmo da poesia: «Todo o empenho do homem está nas artes, e em tudo o que é comum». As Artes. Espanta-nos sempre o sentido manual e oficinal que o místico dá ao termo Artes. Como se a sua voz laboral fosse sempre a do desenhador.

I recently got a copy of Robert Crumb’s illustrated book of Genesis for review. I’m not going to print my whole review here, it’s going elsewhere, but I am going to give a quick/short form review as I know lots of people will be interested in the book.

Of course Crumb is a justly famous artist, his mastery of pencil and pen is amazing, and the artwork in this version of the Genesis text is incredible.

Moreover he doesnt take any liberties with the text, it’s basically ‘as is’ (albeit with the mandatory additions of chapters, and the occasional Crumb footnote).

It’s a beautifully illustrated book, and the illustration is very well researched, adding a new dimension to the text in places.

My only grumble with the book is that in my opinion Crumb has over-sexualised some of the female characters. I think he does this to try and emphasise their power and importance, but I think the pneumatic breasts and rounded buttocks which appear clothed and unclothed as the the stories demand, are at times unneccesarily exagerated.

Textual literalists may also complain that while Crumb doesnt add or subtract from the words, he does add some new layers of meaning (although well researched of course) via facial expressions and background contexts in certain scenes.

In all, an excellent book, really beautifully drawn. There are issues surrounding sexualisation, and in my opinion this is a consistent issue with Crumb, but if you can ignore that, then there is the real possibility that this will open up the ancient and awesome book of Genesis in a new way for the reader, and that is always welcome.

Parental advisory: contains sexual and violent content.

Crumb's version of Abraham and Isaac

Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated is one of the most exciting books of the year. I reviewed the volume for Bookforum, which can be found here. On the Inkstuds radio program, I engaged in an extended conversation on the book with Paul Stanwood, an English professor at the University of British Columbia. You can listen to our talk here.

I was greatful for the radio talk, because it allowed me to bring up issues that I had to skimp in the review, in particular Crumb’s use of ethnicity (unlike many other visual represenations of these stories, the characters actually look Middle Eastern), the fact that Crumb is working in the tradition of the grotesque rather than the heroic, and the merits of the translation Crumb relied on.

Here is an excerpt from the Bookforum review:

As presented in the Bible, the characters in Genesis have no internal lives: We see them speak and act, with little sense of their motivations. When a primary character (God or one of the patriarchs) speaks at length, we can only guess at how the words were received. Crumb’s major interpretive act is to offer reaction shots to this biblical speech making. When God tells Noah that divine justice demands the destruction of almost all life on earth, the poor farmer is aghast. In chapter 35, Jacob calls on the members of his household to cleanse themselves and destroy their idols. The text is silent about their reactions, but Crumb shows the women of the family quietly crying as they hand over their beloved objects.

Among its many riches, Genesis is a book about bodies, a book where men and women constantly grapple with one another, where a servant swears an oath by putting his hand under his master’s thigh, where even angels are threatened with sexual violation. Crumb has long been the preeminent cartoonist of the body. His women are notoriously full-figured, with ample butts and protruding nipples (a motif he uses in this book). But more significantly, the bodies he draws—whether they are quivering or standing still, dancing or drooping—have a visceral impact few artists can match. That’s why he was the perfect cartoonist to illustrate the Book of Genesis, a fitting capstone to a great career.

OCTOBER STUFF …

Books

Resident Alien – Quentin Crisp

The Divine Comedy – Dante Alighieri

Modernism: The Lure of Heresy – Peter Gay

Selected Poems – Anna Akhmatova

The Book of Genesis – Robert Crumb

Girlfriend In A Coma – Douglas Coupland

The Lazarus Project – Alexander Hemon

Casanova – Ian Kelly

Films

Made in Sheffield – Documentary

Fish Tank – Andrea Arnold

Cry Baby - John Waters

Merchant of Four Seasons – Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Music

True Love’s Gutter - Richard Hawley

Rockin’ and Rollin’ 1948-1950 - Lil’ Son Jackson

Babylon Original Soundtrack – Various

A South Bronx Story - ESG

Stars and Wronguns - Beastellabeast

Trouble Again - King Kong

The Sunday Sessions - Phillip Larkin

Moondog (The Viking of Sixth Avenue) - Moondog

Tromatic Reflexxions – Von Sudenfed

Here’s a clip  of Moondog for you. A true genius who pretty much invented electronica back in the 50s. Can’t believe I’ve only just discovered him (I’m sure he’s related to the legendary ‘Warlock’  – an old acid casualty from York who used to live in a shed round the back of the Theatre Royal…)

LA. Traffic.

Just got back from Los Angeles, where I de-installed my work at Tarryn Teresa Gallery. A few notes from my mental scrapbook:

Packing up mailinvoicegetcarsmogged, 2006, plastic and ink on paper, 48 x 66 x 12 inches

Packing tools? I’ll never doubt you again, needle-nose pliers and extension cords! I should expect map pin heads to come clean off by now. I should know better than to rely on the palm sander’s cord. Thankfully, I erred on the side of caution, and it paid off.

NPR and classic rock. Apparently there’s no public radio along the I-5 in Fresno and Merced Counties, or they’re all run by evangelicals. Sans audio books, my substitute of choice was a Bakersfield-based classic rock station. If you could forgive the gratuitous misogyny, you’d discover a playlist spanning Zep, GNR, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Metallica, and Journey. Those bands once inspired repulsion in me, but I think we can all agree now that hair bands made some pretty great pop music. Last week, I heard Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” on an early morning grocery run, and it instilled a good mood that lasted hours. So I’m reclaiming this music from the heshers/burnouts/metalheads/bullies who gave it a bad name in high school, and you’re welcome to join me. For those about to rock…

Charles Burchfield, Glory of Spring, 1950, Watercolor on paper. Collection Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Corning Clark, 1959.6.6. Photo by Gary Mamay. Image source: Hammer Museum

“It seems to me, more than ever, imperative that I somehow get these fantasies into finished concrete form even tho there is not sale for them. How we will live, I do not know.”

Burchfield’s final paintings are really tremendous pictures. Some of them are breathtaking. The show is accompanied by extensive notes which provide welcome keys to the artist’s process, thoughts, doubts and motivations.

Nic Hess’ Hammer Project. Pretty great too. Masking tape drawings, a ton of vinyl decals. The placement of imagery in the space was cheeky and unexpected.

Robert Crumb’s Book of Genesis at the Hammer. I always feel the same way after viewing Crumb’s drawings: slightly dirty and tawdry, like I’d stayed at a cheap motel and watched Entertainment Weekly. More of my base self and less of my ideal self. It’s brilliant for Crumb to do a literal interpretation of the first book of the Bible in all its wretched, meaty drama. Of course Crumb can draw like no other, and there’s something vaguely appropriate, like Chick Tracts, to visualize this content in a sensational manner. The curators took pains to point out Crumb’s attempts at historical accuracy in regards to robes and architecture, but his comically zaftig female figures seem excepted from revision.

The historical exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum. I went for the Giant Robot Biennale, but two items from the historical exhibit were like punches to the stomach. First: a small girl’s cape. An internee mother modified a disused Navy peacoat for her daughter. It makes tangible the completely deranged skewing of context (where giving old military coats to forcibly-relocated families is like compassion; where modifying said coat is an act of love and resilience). Second, a massive diorama reified the scope of the internment camp at Manzanar. It was conceived and created by Robert Hasuike, a Mattel Toys model maker. It was effective and, by extrapolation, nightmarish.

Exhibition in Pasadena featuring some high-profile artists from the past 20 years of the institution’s programming. Ambitious show, disappointing reality. Only a few works emerged unscathed from the poor presentation and compromised spaces. I think the less said about this exhibition, the better. So I’ll pose, then, a series of questions:

1. When you’re an artist, and have identified artists you admire who embody rigor, quality, thoughtfulness and professionalism, and you see their work suffer due to poor presentation, how does that make you feel? Do you have similar experiences in your own history so that you can relate to these established artist’s possible regrets? And does this make you hopeful (that you’re not alone) or sad (that even established artists can’t avoid partnerships with presenters who don’t deliver)?

2. Is it the artist’s burden to accept the limitations of a non-commercial presenter? Or is it the artist’s responsibility to push them to expand their capacity and raise the level of exhibition installation and management towards professionalism?

3. When you’re a viewer and your expectations of an exhibition are raised by professionally-produced promotional collateral, who is at fault when the actual show’s installation reads on a lower level of quality, like student-grade?

—
On Whinging. This post is a bit more critical than usual, but I do grapple with these questions and criticisms wholly. I’m invested—I drove all over LA on a beautiful holiday afternoon and selected a a few shows to focus my attention on. I don’t set out to be critical of these shows—I try to keep an open mind and hope to be surprised for the positive.

Happy Halloween!

new CRUMB audio can be found here at 6p EST: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120022241

vocês conhecem a academia, certo?

reações a declaração de Crumb (‘mulheres fantasiam serem estupradas’ – muito freudiano de sua parte, Bob) numa entrevista a Françoise Mouly na U de Richmond podem ser lidas aqui.

hm-hm.

tudo a ver com o que aconteceu nestas bandas na última semana, n’est ce pas?

Time Magazine began the week joining other media who have noted the publication of The Book of Genesis by 66-year old American comic book illustrator Robert Crumb aka R. Crumb. In a November 1st online story, the magazine said:

Crumb’s manuscript is — for a man who has said he doesn’t believe Genesis is God’s word — oddly reminiscent of those produced by monks before printing presses: a faithful, verse for verse copy, painstakingly rendered. He hardly needed to change a thing; Genesis offers a smorgasbord of the kind of behavior Crumb is given to portraying: the persistent, colorful, depressing failure of humans to not give in to their baser desires. It’s sufficiently literal that cultural conservatives could hardly be offended, but it has more than enough supernatural events, betrayals and epic storylines to satisfy the comic book reader.

Despite the above, the book is not selling through comic book stores, Crumb’s traditional core market.  That might have to do with the content and the price; the book retails for $24.99 U.S. in hardcover.

The story also links to a review by the more Evangelical Ben Witherington III, who writes at Beliefnet:

…This super-lapsed Catholic has decided to depict scenes from all 50 chapters of Genesis, with the emphasis on verbatim. Those of us who knew a bit about his snarky past were holding our collective breath… The kudos for this book are also coming in from other quarters–Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and chronicler of pop culture thinks Crumb is successfully translating the Bible into a new medium… In the end Crumb after long debating how to depict God (as a bright light???) fell back on the old stand by–God as the old white guy with the long white beard. I wonder what the Mormons would say about this Genesis.,

Contrast this with Crumb’s other works which include the Hot ‘n Heavy collection which introduced readers to a number of characters including the not-so-religious Fritz The Cat.

Don’t look for copies of this at Family Christian Bookstores, though it would be interesting to see if they would order it for a customer.

Last night I went to UCLA’s Royce Hall for “An Evening with R. Crumb.” He spoke with The New Yorker’s art editor Françoise Mouly. The crowd was a mixed bag; a bag mixed with an older generation of white-haired folks and a younger dudes who obsess over comics and big butts, and misunderstood artists, and then me, who won Booksoup’s contest and ended up going solo to the affair.

I have to admit that I am a recent convert to Crumb. Everything turned around when I read an article in the New York Times a few years ago that interviewed him and his wife Aline, and she was such a cool lady that I gained immediate respect for him. They’ve got a good thing going over there in France.

Anyway, the talk last night wasn’t everything I wanted it to be. We saw a slide show of family photos and his early work (including a hilarious greeting card about a studly masseuse). Mouly asked him if he ever considered applying for a job at The New Yorker instead of working for a greeting card company in Cleveland at the age of 19, and he let her have it. It was a really stupid question, I thought. Do New Yorker people have no clue how elite they are? That question made me wonder if she was the best person to interview him.

Anyway, I wanted to hear more about his interest in the ancient texts that led to his Genesis project and why he was reading them in the first place. I think his one-page introduction to The Book of Genesis actually gave me a better understanding of the project than anything discussed last night.  He also mentioned that he was (and still is, I guess) dyslexic and didn’t realize this until later in life. Comics saved him when he was a kid because he just couldn’t read regular books.

Once the “talk” was over and the Q&A period began, all hell broke loose. People were shouting out questions and some guy up in the bleachers was trying to promote his web site. The evening ended when some lame woman asked Crumb about his personal style and the hats he wears. Oh, my. Crumb said, “Well, we are in LA, aren’t we.”

• RIP Maryanne Amacher
• Excellent piece in the Boston Phoenix on Boston Noir, and the city’s troubled history with film production.
• At Rhizome, Geeta Dayal explores the connections between the work of Brian Eno and cybernetics.
• Simon Reynolds profiles Numero Group, the number one label for obscure funk and soul reissues.
• Arnaud Desplechin talks to Wes Anderson in Interview Magazine.
• Dennis Lim on the new Samuel Fuller DVD boxset, featuring the awesome Underworld U.S.A, in the LA Times.
• Dave Kehr on this year’s festival of recently preserved films at MoMA, in the NY Times.
• On that topic, here is a video tour of the MoMA’s film preservation center.
• Also in the Times, Manohla Dargis has an excellent piece of the recent crop of famous dead women in the movies
• Great piece on Ingmar Bergman’s home, on the Sweedish island of Fårö in W Magazine.
• Christopher R. Weingarten is interviewed by  the AV Club.
• How I turned Woody Allen into a comic strip: Stuart Hample at the Guardian.
• Commissioned by W Magazine, Robert Crumb illustrates the history of women.
• Small feature on Tracy Emin in New York Times Style Magazine.
• Massive piece on James Cameron in the New Yorker that let’s everyone know he’s an asshole.
• Inside look at the creation of the wild things, at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, courtesy of Vanity Fair.
• The American Scholar takes a look at Fitzgerald’s tax returns.

[Photo: Ghosts VI, Sam Taylor-Wood, 2008]

En mi entrada anterior hablé de Jack Chick y sus historietas en forma de tratados. En ellas se muestra conceptos dogmáticos del cristianismo que son seleccionados por  su mensaje a favor de esta religión. Todos estos conceptos del cristianismo surgen de su libro sagrado, la Biblia. Dije en esa ocasión que encontraba la Biblia un libro lleno de aspectos  e ideas muy repugnantes. De la misma manera José Saramago nos habla de que la misma es un catalogo de crueldad. El artículo al que hago referencia nos dice:

El autor se reconoce sorprendido por las historias de “incesto, violencia y demás horrores” que contiene este libro sagrado, que en religiones como el protestantismo es un texto que se toma como un modelo de comportamiento.

Para los cristianos del mundo la Biblia es un libro maravilloso y un modelo a utilizar al hablar de moralidad, de ahí que se utilice tanto los diez mandamientos como un código ético. En los Estados Unidos existe una batalla que parece no tener fin entre grupos seculares y cristianos por la insistencia de los últimos en colocar monumentos con los diez mandamientos  en la entrada de las cortes como ocurrio con el Juez Roy Moore que se nego a quitar un monumento de su corte hasta que tuvo que ser despedido de su puesto por no obedecer. Muchos de estos  monumentos han tenido que ser removidos cuando alguien ha cuestionado el que esto promociona una religión sobre otra en los juzgados, violando la primera enmienda de la constitución estadounidense.

Todos los cristianos fundamentalistas cargan con su Biblia para todos lados, como queriendo decirnos que es el libro más apropiado para enseñarnos sobre muchos conceptos de paz, y moralidad. Debido a que la mayoría de los cristianos no han leído la Biblia completa ni detalladamente no se dan cuenta que la cantidad de sexo, asecinatos, incesto, genocidios, masacres e inmoralidad son la orden del día. Todo esto lo convierte en un libro no apto para menores, pero frecuentemente vemos familias completas donde cada niño carga su Biblia. ¿No saben los padres que están permitiendo a sus hijos el  llevar  material objetable, incluso pornográfico  con ellos?

¿Qué pasaría si en vez de la típica monótona Biblia alguien nos presentara una Biblia ilustrada completa? Me refiero a todos los capítulos, sin escoger las historias que quieren contar a su conveniencia de los pastores y curas.  Después de todo Jack Chick nos dice en su sitio web  que las ilustraciones, dibujos e historietas son una manera efectiva para capturar la atención. (En esto estoy de acuerdo). Por que no hacerlo con la Biblia?

Antes de presentar el evangelio a una persona, primero debe captar su atención. El mundo sabe cómo atraer y mantener la atención de la gente… ¡con dibujos!, ya sea televisión, películas, videos, historietas, etc. Los tratados Chick usan la misma técnica, con caricaturas que captan la atención del lector. A todos, sean adultos o jóvenes, les gustan las historietas. Ver texto completo aquí.

Pues ya el reconocido ilustrador de comics underground Robert  Crumb ha decidido darle paso a esta tremenda idea.  En vez de crear historietas y dibujos a base de la interpretación de un simple ser humano, un cura, un reverendo, un teólogo,  nos presenta este mes de octubre el primer libro de la Biblia, el Génesis completamente ilustrado, los 50 capítulos completos!  De esta manera podríamos leer el  primer libro de la Biblia, completo,  de una manera ilustrada,  para mantener nuestra atención, y así por primera vez muchos cristianos podrían leer ese primer libro de una manera divertida!  ¿Sería un gran regalo para un niño?…no lo creo…Así que fue muy acertada la decisión de Crumb de poner en la portada de su obra la siguiente advertencia:  “Se requiere supervisión adulta para lectores menores”

Aunque parezca mentira ya varios grupos cristianos han elevado su voz de protesta diciendo que la Biblia debe ser tratada ¡con respeto! ¿Tienen miedo de que la lectura de una Biblia ilustrada, fiel en cada detalle, permita a muchas personas, incluyendo niños descubrir sus horrores, y de momento el misticismo se pierda? Crumb no está ilustrando nada que no esté en la Biblia. Cada capítulo está ilustrado exactamente como está descrito y para eso estuvo 4 años estudiando y dibujando cada uno de ellos para que la lectura sea amena y estrictamente exacta a como dice el libro sagrado del cristianismo. Algunos capítulos traerán lágrimas  gozo y reinvidicación a los ojos de los cristianos, pero  a la gran mayoría los va a ofender, pues esos mismos cristianos preferirían que las cientos de historias objetables en el libro de Génesis especialmente el uso continuo de sexo… ¡no fuesen mencionados!. Que tal la historia de Lot el hombre más justo en las cuidades de Sodoma y Gomorra pero tuvo sexo con sus dos hijas….Claro el no tuvo culpa….. sus hijas lo enborracharon! Aquí el libro comienza a ponerse oscuro…..

Genesis 19:35-38

35 Y dieron a beber vino a su padre también aquella noche, y se levantó la menor, y durmió con él; pero él no echó de ver cuándo se acostó ella, ni cuándo se levantó. 36 Y las dos hijas de Lot concibieron de su padre. 37 Y dio a luz la mayor un hijo, y llamó su nombre Moab, el cual es padre de los moabitas hasta hoy. 38 La menor también dio a luz un hijo, y llamó su nombre Ben- ammi, el cual es padre de los amonitas hasta hoy.

Aunque ya yo me he leido completa de cubierta a cubierta (creanme fue una tortura pero lo logré hace 4 años atrás). Creo que este capítulo de Génesis de Crumb lo hará más divertido….digo,…. eso dice Jack Chick….. Aquellos que tengan la suerte de leer en la lengua inglesa hagan  como yo,  ordenen su libro más barato aquí. En español, ediciones Cúpula se encargó de su publicacion pulsar aquí. Muchos de nosotros  ateos que criticamos la Biblia nos hemos deconvertido con solo leerla. Y es que antes de criticarla o promulgarla hay que educarse sobre el tema y esto implica leerla  TODA, asi que Crumb nos provee una manera de hacerlo, comenzando por Génesis, a ateos y cristianos por igual sin… intermediarios.

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