Alternatve Comics City Monster vs Saxaphone!

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

Made up of all the cars, people, wires and energy of the metropolis streets, the City Monster rises with a booming crescendo of maniacal sounds. Screeching over the traffic the creature engulfs pedestrians and digests the denizens with routines and stress. As the passing clouds cross the billboards, a tiny little person wearing a noir suit opens up his case. Fastening the glimmering weapon to his chest the defiant performer breaths heavily. Upon inserting the reed, and taking a firm foot hold of concrete, out bursts the sound. Swiftly echoing through out the wind tunnels the saxophone slices through the chaos offering a hypnotic resistance to overbearing city sounds. A release removes worries the music makes the madness palatable for another moment. Such is life in the City of Gears!

“The Saxophone vs. the City” 18” x 24” Pen and ink drawing made live on Queen Street West. This follow up to the “Attack of the City Monster” was inspired by the amazing prowess of music to enhance our lives in the city. All throughout the downtown core people are enjoying music. Quite often a saxophonist will step out in the streets and play out for the entire surroundings. The magnificent power of the instrument combined with the shared public experience of a beautifully played song is always outstanding. This illustration places the heroic musician center stage versus the horrific metropolis.

I revisited this drawing as a 10 x 12 foot street painting/performance in 2007. That summer I did a large mural on Queen Street West almost every Saturday. When I was drawing the “Saxophone Vs. The City Monster” there was a large crowd of teenagers and adults hovering over the artwork. As I laid down the final brush strokes I could here them attempting to figure out what the painting represented. They had figured out the crowds and the city but were stumped as too the squiggly lines and figure. Then, just as a became concerned that I had botched the drawing, a little girl step out from behind the shopping bags and, tired of all the silliness, simply proclaimed “ it’s a Saxophone !”