OK, so, I’ve been promising a return to the insightful, autobiographical work-in-progress feel I set out to accomplish with this blog, and I think we need to start with a little trip down memory lane.
In my college days, when I was a younger Zed, I dated a lovely gal by the name of ‘Whitney,’ who was insane. I mean, like really insane, but the fun kind, not the stabbity kind.
My Thesis Exhibition, "Sometimes They Opened Galleries"
Among the many things I remember about Whitney is that she was just absolutely unaffected by the usual self-consciousness handicaps that so many people get tripped up on. Her imagination was unhindered by any concerns as to how things would be received, and it was a brilliant sort of rebellion that I easily became wrapped up in myself.
ChickenBones
It’s unsurprising that it was during this time in my life I came up with all the cast and designs for my ChickenBones comics. It was a good relationship for encouraging a sense of playful exploration and madcap absurdities. Without Whit’s influence, I have to genuinely doubt I would have been in a state of mind to create a comic about an anthropomorphic chicken skeleton in a nehru coat and cargo shorts, whose supporting cast included a broom, a vampire, a store mannequin, a wax statue of Abraham Lincoln, a 6 foot tall playing card, and a floating burlap sack.
Those of you who remember that time period, or else who are just inclined to notice, will know the obvious connection between the invention of ChickenBones and The Great Chicken Skull Revival, whose original masks and attitudes were all inspired by the groundwork I had been doing in preparation for the comic.
Rebellious Portrait With Teacup. Me and Whit.
She and I were together for the last couple years of my college experience, which corresponds neatly for a variety of reasons to the time when my artistic output was at its absolute highest. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that now, as I’m looking to reconnect with my art, I decided to look back to this time period and revisit what it was that drove me and inspired me back then.
And, that’s it for part 1. Next time, sketchbooks and sketches, and the search for something to conjure up the past.