HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics EYEBALL CITY
Believe it or not the 2005 season never actually came to a close for me. The winter was mild by all comparison and virtually non-existent by Canadian standards. I had moved up and out of various shared accommodations and rented a large studio apartment in Kensington Market. Though the summer had been a lucrative one I had no real plans for continued business or exhibition during the winter season and found my self continually hitting the streets all the way through to the spring. The weather stayed above 5 degrees Celsius, dry, windless and sunny so I bundled up good and remained one of few vendors on the beat. Despite the long months made of short brisk days, I continued to earn enough to keep the ship afloat.
I had a lot of help through out that season as many repeat patrons purchased work primarily for my benefit. One incredible patron returned on a weekly basis purchasing 10 sketches a week until he’d collected a full hundred. The street life was unusual and the tourism and shopping was scarce and I ended up fraternizing with various street people. It was a totally different world out there yet a worthwhile adventure as I braved the cold weather and learned more things than I’d hoped. I actually saw the sun get lower in the sky and by judging the length of the shadows I knew when it had risen again to lengthen the days. There is something strange and meditative about spending an entire year observing the world from a single location. I experienced a truly unique vantage of the metropolis’ cycles. A February came and slowly passed by my pens finally froze and I was forced to scribble with markers. However at the onset of March and close to my submission, the temperature starting rising and it was as if winter hadn’t come at all.
I had a lot of help through out that season as many repeat patrons purchased work primarily for my benefit. One incredible patron returned on a weekly basis purchasing 10 sketches a week until he’d collected a full hundred. The street life was unusual and the tourism and shopping was scarce and I ended up fraternizing with various street people. It was a totally different world out there yet a worthwhile adventure as I braved the cold weather and learned more things than I’d hoped. I actually saw the sun get lower in the sky and by judging the length of the shadows I knew when it had risen again to lengthen the days. There is something strange and meditative about spending an entire year observing the world from a single location. I experienced a truly unique vantage of the metropolis’ cycles. A February came and slowly passed by my pens finally froze and I was forced to scribble with markers. However at the onset of March and close to my submission, the temperature starting rising and it was as if winter hadn’t come at all.
The early spring brought about a seasonally impressive March Break and the streets were filled once again with large crowds. During the holiday I started performing again and set forth to create 3 large scale ink murals. The first drawing I made featured the ominous EYEBALL CITY featuring the gear themes with an optically twist. I had already hypothesized the metropolis as a giant machine propelled by all of it’s denizens only now it was centrifugally spinning around the eyeball of consciousness, a psychedelic representation of human hope and shared dreams.
The second large illustration depicted the grotesque CITY MONSTER, an enormous creature made up of all the cars, wires, building and people personifying the power the urban atrocities. I remember blasting the John Coltrane Village Vanguard records while painting when a father and son stopped to watch while the rest of their family was shopping. The Dad was leaning on a rail near my display when I heard him say to his son “This street is cool!” They both had a glow about them which told me how much they were enjoying the experience so I looked up and down the road to see what they meant. There wasn’t anything anywhere, no people, no vendors just me, the monster, and Mr. Coltrane.
The third drawing of the spring holiday was supposed to be something I’d decided on but have since totally forgot. As I stood up to attack the big. piece of paper before a gathering crowd my knee struck my ink container sending a black pool across the page. Without hesitation I jumped into the ink stained mess and started scratching away. The image ended up being another CITY MONSTER vomiting up a black tar. The accidental inspiration proved inspirationally gratifying and the drawing was sold later out of my studio at a high end gallery price to someone who had witnessed my salvaging of the nearly ruined performance drawing. Each of these three monster comics murals measured 10 x 10 feet and were drawn with black India ink, brushes and bamboo. The first two creations took three days each to complete while the third accidental drawing was done in a day. I’ll never forget all the people I met and especially the endless sea of young vacationing students. That March Break Holiday was incredible and incredibly busy as it was the only one during my entire lifetime to be blessed with such fine weather. continued tomorrow
The second large illustration depicted the grotesque CITY MONSTER, an enormous creature made up of all the cars, wires, building and people personifying the power the urban atrocities. I remember blasting the John Coltrane Village Vanguard records while painting when a father and son stopped to watch while the rest of their family was shopping. The Dad was leaning on a rail near my display when I heard him say to his son “This street is cool!” They both had a glow about them which told me how much they were enjoying the experience so I looked up and down the road to see what they meant. There wasn’t anything anywhere, no people, no vendors just me, the monster, and Mr. Coltrane.
The third drawing of the spring holiday was supposed to be something I’d decided on but have since totally forgot. As I stood up to attack the big. piece of paper before a gathering crowd my knee struck my ink container sending a black pool across the page. Without hesitation I jumped into the ink stained mess and started scratching away. The image ended up being another CITY MONSTER vomiting up a black tar. The accidental inspiration proved inspirationally gratifying and the drawing was sold later out of my studio at a high end gallery price to someone who had witnessed my salvaging of the nearly ruined performance drawing. Each of these three monster comics murals measured 10 x 10 feet and were drawn with black India ink, brushes and bamboo. The first two creations took three days each to complete while the third accidental drawing was done in a day. I’ll never forget all the people I met and especially the endless sea of young vacationing students. That March Break Holiday was incredible and incredibly busy as it was the only one during my entire lifetime to be blessed with such fine weather. continued tomorrow
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