“I promise to spare you all my worst visions.” – Jim Woodring
I ran into Woodring's Frank books working at the library and would kind of page through them, look at what I considered must be hyperbolic blurbs on the back and then place them in their proper place on the Graphic Novel Shelf.
Except they have no proper place. When I finally brought home The Frank Book I realized the blurbs were not hyperbolic. These books were drugs! I would finish a story and seriously just start jonesin' to get back into his world, The Unifactor. His wordless images tell us stories we have always known and most people want to forget.
I found my self scouring his blog for new images to tide me over until I could get my hands on the next book. The BIG FIX. Just as I was discovering him last year his masterpiece Weathercraft came out. Oh baby. I've said enough. If you like what you see do visit the other websites and especially check out his books. -- L@rst
_______
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Jim Woodring was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California and enjoyed an exciting childhood full of poetry and paroniria among the snakes, rats and tarantulas of that enchanted realm. He eventually grew into an inquisitive bearlike man who has had three exciting careers; garbage collector, merry-go-round-operator and cartoonist. His work has been collected in several books from Fantagraphics and in various toys, fabrics, prints and urban legends.
Jim Woodring’s cartoons chart a course through some of the most surreal imagery ever seen in any artistic medium, drawing visions from the realms of the subconscious to create a graphic world of dreams. But while his work may speak in the language of dreams, Woodring’s life has often led him into nightmare territory.
As a child, Woodring was plagued by both schoolmates and by waking nightmares accompanied by “voices” — a condition which would haunt him through childhood and much of his adult life. After enduring drug and alcohol abuse and homelessness, he worked as an animator for several major studios. At the same time, Woodring worked on his own cartoon visions, self-publishing them in minicomic format.
"Four of the main Unifactor beings performing their allotted roles with perfect aplomb."
In the mid-’80s, Woodring was introduced to publisher Gary Groth by mutual friend Gil Kane (who worked with Woodring at Ruby-Spears), and Groth agreed to publish Woodring's work. In 1987, Woodring quit animation and moved with his wife Mary and son Max to Seattle, where they live to this day. In addition to his critically acclaimed comics and books, Woodring also works in canvas painting and 3-dimensional objects, many of which have been featured in gallery exhibitions from Seattle to New York.
“Woodring is fantastic... his stuff will outlast all but one in a thousand of his peers. His stuff is a revelation.” – Scott McCloud
... from Fantagraphics Website
As a child, Woodring suffered from hallucinations of floating, gibbering faces over his bed (among other visions)
A self-taught artist, Woodring dropped out of college when he hallucinated a cartoon-like frog in the middle of an art history course. He spent a few years working as a garbageman and developed a serious drinking problem; he eventually quit drinking because he felt it was interfering with his growth as an artist. He then landed a job with the animation studio Ruby-Spears in the 1970s. He worked designing characters and doing layouts for cartoon shows about Mr. T and Rubik's Cube, and he has often said that these were the worst cartoons ever produced. During this time he formed friendships with and was somewhat mentored by celebrated comic book artists Gil Kane and Jack Kirby, who were both disgruntled with the comics business and were working in animation at the time.
In 1980, he began self-publishing Jim, an anthology of comics, dream art, and free-form writing which he described as an "autojournal". Jim was published as a regular series by Fantagraphics Books starting in 1986, to critical acclaim if less than spectacular sales, and Woodring became a full-time cartoonist. Frank, a wordless surrealist series which began as an occasional feature within Jim, became his best-known work.
________
STYLE
Woodring's work has a surreal and often nightmarish quality. Woodring once told The Comics Journal that under the right circumstances he is still capable of "hallucinating like mad." The desire to draw something that "wasn't there" was always of "paramount importance" to Woodring.
Frogs feature prominently in Woodring's comics, and their symbolism seems to change from story to story. Often they are spiritually-minded but rather pompous creatures, but at other times they are more sinister and alien, at still other times they are "average joes" struggling to protect their homes or their families from predators.
_________
CHARACTERS
Besides the characters found in Jim and Frank, Woodring characters include Pulque - a perpetually drunken, man-sized, Spanish-speaking frog-creature who inexplicably hangs around with a group of American, suburban children despite the fact that they cannot understand each other and are drawn in markedly different styles - and Big Red, a large street cat who hunts and kills with an appropriately cat-like gusto made chilling by the fact that we can understand his dialogues with his prey ("I'll kill you," shrieks a terrified possum, "I killed the old owl!" "That's nice," is Red's amused response, as he moves in for the kill.)
"we quarreled"
_________
MISCELLANEOUSFor years, Woodring ran ads for Jimland Novelties in the back of his comics. These toys, books, and oddities included a kit to make a frog's (severed) legs swim by hooking them up to a little motor, and another kit for leaving Woodring's own fingerprints around your home. For a time, Woodring was sending his readers free drawings, called "jiva portraits," of what he imagined their souls looked like. Jivas also appear frequently in Woodring's autobiographical dream comics and in Frank, where they appear as floating, flexible, colorful, occasionally radiant bulbous spindles resembling children's tops, and are both cognizant and motile, and neither vapourous nor altogether benevolent. Woodring has occasionally referred to them as "angels". In some Jim stories the Jivas can speak, and in one he accidentally pierces one's skin and it deflates like a balloon.
Woodring is a follower of Vedanta, and aspects of this philosophy often appear in his stories.
... from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Woodring
__________
PRAISE FOR JIM WOODRING AND FRANK"The ancient myths and folk tales of all cultures which have been preserved for so many centuries have meaning for us today because the fantastic elements in them are rooted in immutable reality. The Frank stories belong to this class of literature." – Francis Ford Coppola
"Jim Woodring may be the most important cartoonist of his generation. The Frank stories are masterpieces, each and every one. Read them. Re-read them. Re-re-read them. Every cell in your body will remember this spellbinding, visionary work." – Scott McCloud
"The Frank stories have a meditative, hallucinatory feel... They tap into a universal consciousness of archetypes. But ultimately Frank tells one story, everyone's story, the same story as life: 'How Laughably Absurd It All Is.'" – Time.com
"Frank's a frankly mind-blown creature who reminds you that there are more worlds in the world than you may be recognizing as you go about the daily grind." – New York Press
_________
OFFICIAL SITEShttp://jimwoodring.blogspot.com/
http://www.jimwoodring.com/
"How To Read Weathercraft"
Jim Woodring talks through his graphic novel Weathercraft at the Fantagraphics Bookstore and Gallery, 22nd May 2010:
Weathercraft from Gavin Lees on Vimeo.
Woodring's Books at Fantagraphic
----
*
p.s. Hey. The unimpeachable writer, radio host/auteur, musician, and d.l. L@rstonovich is your host today, and the especially curious and wonderful Jim Woodring is his mission. Investigate and report your findings aka thoughts, etc. to your kindly overseer please. Thanks, and, yes, thank you in bold caps, L@arsty. ** Alexp336, Hey. Oh, I'll definitely stand around in whatever electronics outlet fooling around with the 3DS before I plunk my Euros down. Thank you alerting me about the headaches thing, and I'll hope (against hope) that that's just Sony propaganda. Sod's law, yes, nice. Luckily, writing talent has no expiration date, and writers are allowed to still be climbing the hill when, oh, rock stars would already be over it. Or something. Oh, yeah, I usually get 'somebody else must have written this thing' a lot. Even a month or two after I've finished something. I find that really pleasurable and helpful and, plus, if you have that response, it pretty much means that you (albeit maybe not entirely) essentially approve of the piece. Good day, man. ** Jax, Thanks, pal. Yes, it's a big relief. I like the sound (and description) of that 'cod Jane Austen voice'. I can't 'hear' it precisely, but I can hear you and it fucking through the wall. In this case, though, the sound is welcoming. Nope, don't know about 'Neds'. I do know about 'Fridge', although I don't think I've ever seen it. Your b'day is next Tuesday? I'm going to try to remember that. I know so many people who were born around now. I suppose astrology would explain that if astrology were the law. ** Empty Frame, Thank you, man. I hope it'll come out later this year, but I don't know what the release date is yet. But thanks! ** Colin, Thank you, bud. 'Streetcorners' is really pretty. In the good, French way. Oh, you're seeing 'Jerk' again? Thanks, man. Everyone, is anyone going to see 'Jerk' in Edinburgh and, if so, feel like meeting up with Colin for a drink? If so, please say so, I guess. ** Sypha, Oh, right, sorry, I spaced yesterday. I knew that was your title. I was just ... vagued out, I guess. ** Mark Gluth, Thanks a lot, man. How's your novel going, if you don't mind saying? ** Alan, Hey. Cool. I hope you enjoyed yourself. ** Bernard Welt, Thanks, B. Yeah, I finished the edit yesterday afternoon and got an all clear sign last night, so pretty easy. Everyone, here's Bernard Welt with a question: 'I wonder if anyone around here's seen the National Theatre of Scotland's "Black Watch." I'm taking a class to it in DC next week; looks awesome from all accounts and YouTube video.' ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, and thanks, David. ** Steevee, Fingers very crossed until the test results come back. Nice about the American Lang festival. I've hardly seen any of his US films, I don't think. Wow, the Arab Anti-Islamic Legion does sound really interesting. I'll investigate it later, and thanks a lot for the alert. Everyone, here's Steevee with a really interesting discovery. Take it away, Steevee: 'I discovered a network of black metal bands called the Arab Anti-Islamic Legion, including a one-woman band from Iraq. They have a YouTube channel and a site where you can download their music. It's impossible to make out the vocals but I'm stunned to hear Arabs approvingly sampling that Florida minister who wanted to burn the Quran.' Check it out, yes? ** Allesflesst, Hi, K. So, the DVD (and related fanzine) are in my possession. I think you've emailed me your postal address, yes? If so, I'll get them off to you tomorrow. I wonder what the relationship is between the words pun and puny? ** Postitbreakup, Thanks, J. I don't know if there'll be any excerpts made public before the book comes out. I have no plans to do that, but my publisher might. Dude, not the best night ever on your end, agreed. Yeah, other than giving pals like you and Sypha jobs, the chain bookstores suck eggs if you aren't content to go with the flow. Peace to you too. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Thanks, Glovester. Literary day ... those words almost sound really nice together. And the combo is kind of hard to pronounce, which is cool. Well, conceptually, they're fucking great, but I mean the word sounds are almost lovely. Oh, well, I'm glad you saved yourself from the project to redundancy. What's the new project? Obviously, no sweat if you can't say. Oh, man, you know I want that Day from you. I mean, come on. Thank you! You should see the sparkling in my otherwise slightly red eyes. If you can do such a post, I would become (even more) prostrate. ** Jeff, Yeah, man, melty face means sleep is due, I think. Hope you got the sleep you want. ** Tosh, Hey, Tosh! So good to see you! How are you, etc? Tell me, please. Oh, and it was reading the little piece of writing about Carco by you that I used in the post that made me want and decide to make the post in the first place. So, thank you! ** _Black_Acrylic, Thank you kindly, Ben. It feels good, yeah. ** Bollo, Charming is a good, almost all purpose word. Rarely is there an occasion when it doesn't apply either sincerely or ironically. 'Girl With Curious Hair' is terrific. In my opinion, he became more amazing after that, but it's still terrific. Yeah, I want to see some serious painting going on today in your studio. Don't make me use my powers of astral projection. ** PlushManeuvers, Hey, welcome to here, and thanks a lot. Stick around, if you like. Tell me something about you. What's going on with you? In any case, good to meet you. ** Misanthrope, Oscar's project looks awesome, right? Thank you about the novel. Well, when we were in Manchester, wasn't there some massively big, important football game going on there or somewhere that possibly could have contributed to the locals' drunken awfulness? I'm trying to be nice. Up early, see, there you go. Morning is life's King's ransom. Oh, right, the snow, I heard. Sorry? ** Chris Cochrane, Cool, cool, and cool again. Well, except about the snow, if I'm reading the non-celebratory tone in your text/voice correctly. ** Creative Massacre, I'm sure the 3D thing will settle down into a sub-genre or something. I can't imagine it being 'the future' unless the tech a whole, whole lot better and easier to watch. Full days are good, yeah. My days are getting fuller of late too. ** Statictick, Thanks about 'TMS', man. Yeah, the Merritt doc has been declared so-so at best by both big fans and not such big fans I know who've seen it. I'll await your acidy question then. Thanks, N. ** Frank Jaffe, Hi, Frank! Thanks. I'll find out when the release date is, if it's set. 'Cows', yep, you bet, ha ha. I am so jealous that you went to the Harry Potter theme park that I would scream if I was a little more demonstrative than I am. Damn, I'm dying to go there. I'm dying to take a massive Florida theme park overload vacation. Yeah, I don't know who mixed that CD, but, yeah, loud. I've never seen 'After'. You'll have to tell me what you think. And I hope the festival wows all and sundry. I'm sure it will. ** Bill, Hey. Roland Topor, that's funny, I was just talking with Gisele about him yesterday. Stephen gave me a gift of this book by Topor that's never been translated into English called 'La cuisine cannibale'. It looks pretty cool, text and illustrations. ** Steven Trull, Thank you, Steven. I feared I might have wasted my brain cells when I thought that one up. ** Okay. You're getting this post/p.s. pretty early today because I have to go with Yury to return/ exchange our less than stellar new TV before he goes to work. So, enjoy your extra hours with Mr. L@rast and Mr. Woodring. See you at around the more normal time tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment