So, it turns out that we have a precursor to our title! James Mahan published a zine called "Abstrakt Comix: The Journal of Non-Linear Sequential Graphix" back in 1998-99. These are the only images I have from it:
Recently, James has returned to making abstract comics. Here are some pieces of his from the last year:
James does not have a website, but if you want to see more of his work you can try to friend him on Facebook.
Thanks for posting this! It looks great and I've had a great response. Friend me on FB: James Mahan of Foxborough, Mass. My email is Unklemayhem@aol.com
The artists assembled by Andrei Molotiu for his anthology ABSTRACT COMICS (Fantagraphics, $39.99) push “cartooning” to its limits... It’s a fascinating book to stare at, and as with other kinds of abstract art, half the fun is observing your own reactions: anyone who’s used to reading more conventional sorts of comics is likely to reflexively impose narrative on these abstractions, to figure out just what each panel has to do with the next.
--Douglas Wolk, New York Times Book Review, Holiday Books edition, December 6, 2009 The collection has a wealth of rewarding material... it is a significant historical document that may jump-start an actual new genre.
--Doug Harvey, LA Weekly It becomes a treat to take a page of art - or a simple panel - and consider how the shapes, texture, depth, and color interact with one another; to reflect on how, when one takes the time, the enjoyment one ordinarily finds in reading a purely textually-oriented, narrative-driven written story can - with the graphic form - be translated into something completely different.
--Adam Waterreus, Politics and Prose, "Favorite Graphic Literature of the Year."
...this arresting book is like a scoop of primordial narrative, representational mud. Which is to say, it has vitaminic powers.
--Design Observer
For years, comics (at least American ones) have doggedly refused for one reason or another, to consider other schools of art and beyond mere representation. It's only now we see artists attempting to branch out and try to push at the edge's of the medium's definition. As such I found Abstract Comics to be a revealing, thought-provoking and genuinely lovely book that I'll be sure to be rereading in the months to come.
Thanks for posting this! It looks great and I've had a great response. Friend me on FB: James Mahan of Foxborough, Mass. My email is Unklemayhem@aol.com
ReplyDeleteNice job Andre! I like your choice of images. I can be friended on FB: James Mahan of Foxborough, Massachusetts. My email: mahemart@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Glad to hear about the response.
ReplyDelete