ALTERNATIVE COMICS lost in imagination (the experiment) oh yeah Samurai and Robots too

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

Another sun has past and a few inches gained on my begrudging attempt to develop a new animation (funded by the Ontario arts council). The process itself is moving quite smoothly it is just that sometimes it feels as though it is taking to long (12 freaking drawings per second). So this afternoon I submitted and ran from the studio so as to go and doodle in the hot humid air. Only a comics artist or psychopath would take a break a break from drawing to draw, but I must still refute accusations of either title. In fact I am a really just a sort of surreal detective conducting an unusual experiment regarding the mechanics of life.

My investigative process involves a large amount of public immersion as I use street art and murals to conduct my anthropological studies. The basic idea is to put out as many strange images as possible to incite discussion and question the purpose of routines. Who are all these people and what is the city? The experimental research has taken me to many places. I've eaten at some of the most expensive dinner tables in the entire world and eaten lunch with drug addled homeless people down on the street. The entire production, now going on ten years, has revealed many things about architecture and others but the results as of late have become less and less clear.

The problem with the project occurs in the most peculiar of moments as I discover my public interventions tendencies to manipulate the findings. For example I first discovered hope and intelligent life while painting giant murals in the streets of Toronto. The contradiction occurs after I remove all the artwork as I have realized it was in fact the beacon which was drawing positive actions out from the crowd. Without the giant street display the city turns colder and the possibilities of discovering stimulating ideas grows thinner and thinner with each city block. Is the city a true wonder or was it my interactions which helped to spotlight the miniscule value which quickly ceases to exist out side of the art. Just try and stop a stranger and enter in to discourse about anything of interest and you know what I mean. With a large scale ink mural on the sidewalk the interactions are endless, but without the incentive the metropolis seems numb. There is shopping and drinking and fighting for space as well as headphones and cellular zombies amok.

The question of whether or not my participation in the carnival was effecting my studies has recently become increasingly skewed. On my break in the park I started talking to this Samurai. He told me an interesting story about an artist he once knew. While he shared his weird little narration, I started doodling a scene of my own. I imagined the Ronin was about to do battle with an oddly constructed Robot sneaking up from behind. The Samurai asked what it was that I was drawing, rolled his eyes. sighed and moved into preparation for battle. Sure enough the ground shook under the feet of that Robot as it ran up behind us targeting my new friend.

So you can see where I am having difficulty recording my research. I am not really sure whether or not I am the documenter or the creator of these things. Like a physicist who initiates or destroys a project merely by observation, it is extremely difficult to understand the results because they cannot be judged without looking. It's sort of like that old saying if a tree falls in the forest, does the condo developer make a sound? At any rate the Samurai jumped up and off of a tree at an inhuman pace and made quick work of the Robot before he disappeared. If you want to know what happens next you'll have to read about it in my report. The findings have been published in HEY APATHY! BOOK TWO.

Blurring the lines between reality and dementia! Scene from the HEY APATHY! comics series