Online Comics APATHY AND DESPAIR

HEY APATHY! ONLINE ALTERNATIVE COMICS

This little short entitled "APATHY and DESPAIR" was made way back in the winter of 2001-02. I wanted to do a corresponding artist statement in the form of a comic book for my first exhibition of the HEY APATHY! artworks. The auto-biographical narration follows my weird experiences upon my earliest ventures to the monstrous metropolis. Having suffered a bout agoraphobia enhanced by a fear of mass media manipulation and an overwhelming populace of apathetic denizens, I decided to eliminate all my personal possessions and hide in my basement apartment. In the strip the character uses his commercial and material articles to barricade himself underground.

Like wise I hid in my home turned studio for an extended period of time while I developed my earliest ink drawings. Upon completion of the exhibit I returned to the big city to show the work and continue to investigate the urban atrocity. This comic depicts those initial sensations of despair and the influential experiences surrounding my early creative processes.

I had actually intended to draw a second chapter to this story which would explain the invention of my nightmarish APOCALYPSE drawings. The first series of HEY APATHY! artworks had two parts to it, one representative of our current state of nihilistic conformity and the other a series of premonitions of the apocalypse awaiting us if we did not change our ways. The idea was to eventually film the narrative in live action and have the two part comic as a sort of program for the moving picture. Although I completed the APATHY! portion of the book and film (shot on 16mm staring Mike DeCrook as the artist) I sort of lost interest in the project and started working on a bunch of animations instead. Anyways I came across a photocopied magazine version of the story and thought it would make an interesting dream sequence in the online comic. Eventually I will also transfer the film stock to video because it is pretty weird. We did a nice job on the high contrast lighting and some cool experimental overlays with drippy black oozing ink.

more art at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

Online Comics page 16

HEY APATHY! Online Art Comics page 16. This page is a montage of the various artistic processes I went through during the late summer and early fall of 2001. As I started back to school for my second year at the O.C.A.D. I stopped taking drawing courses and started focussing on film and animation. I already knew what I wanted to draw and had spent my entire summer making giant pen and ink murals so I didn't really enjoy the painting classes where they put apples of nudes in front of us and asked us to be colourful. Instead I practiced drawing on my commutes to and from the college and spent my time studying art forms that required technologies and instruction. Primarily this involved working with John Cruele on 16 mm animation projects as well as some long hour in the wood working shop and on the video editing suites. (I didn't include these in the montage but whatever). I also had to go head to head with the curator of the O.C.A.D. atrium gallery but forcefully convinced her (yelling and screaming) to let me book the space. I'm pretty sure my arguments were convincing but I think my friends also went back after explosion to smooth things over a bit. Any ways the story is still in auto-biographical mode but as you can see from internal monologue things are about to shift. I was heavily inspired by the artworks of Robert Crumb at the time and felt it was important to tell one's own stories so as to avoid fraudulence. However I kind of abandoned that philosophy for a while as you'll see in the upcoming stories. more recently I've come to a bit of a full circle and decided to re-include my autobiographical adventures as part of the mythology because I have actually done some weird things, had some strange experiences, and despite the probable outcomes of my attempts, might actually have something worthwhile to say. But I doubt it, probably just another artist trying to convince you how great I am, I mean if you really look at it that's all those "artists" ever really do... “ I am so and so who has been in this many magazines and won this many awards and sold work to two celebrities five years ago worship me!” now that’s art. visit http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGE 14

HEY APATHY! online alternative comic page 14. These panels represent my personal intimidations and inspirations derived from the monstrous metropolis. Overwhelmed by the enormity and endlessly confused powers of communication expelled within the city, I have often felt as insignificant as a faceless little bubble person can possibly feel. How can anyone make a difference, have a voice, or even just feel as though he or she even matters. Ah the myth of Sisyphus , only in the case the futility of the anti heroes boulder takes the form of mark making with ink on paper.

After my first exhibition of artworks I became doubly aware of the mass hypnosis of superficial and commercial ideologies rampant in the streets and screens and ultimately minds of the metropolis and it's inhabitants. In order to pursue my artistic endeavours I returned to my studio in an attempt to take the battle up a notch. See what happens next week, (maybe sooner but this is only one of three projects plus never ending commissioned artworks I've got going on simultaneously) If you can’t wait you can always check out more online and independently published comics on my brutally designed home made website. All apologies for the mess over there, I’m just trying to catalogue everything chronologically and I plan to bring in a designer soon to put up a proper home page and clean up my mess.

HEY APATHY! Art COMIC Page 13

HEY APATHY! Art Comics page 13. ATTACK OF THE LAUGHING BILLBOARDS. Here the little anti-hero wanders the streets of the monstrous metropolis in a exemplary stupor. The young artist has just completed his first exhibition and has become slightly inebriated by hubris. Spotting the distracted catalyst, two giant billboards prey upon his weakness and attack with a barrage of mockeries and brawling laughter. Assuming diabolical form the over-grown television commercials center out the young artist annihilating his ego and shattering his dreams...

Things are getting a bit more fun for me as far as working out the online comic is concerned. The whole "book" is sort of like a clip show of all the comics I've done over the past ten years (almost). Many of these pages have been previously published as zines or comics, but the print runs were so small the chances are the material is all new to any blog viewers. The first few pages that have already gone up were primarily from my 1st year sketchbook. Although I feel that these strips document important early stages in the development of my mythos, I am far more excited to present more recent and advanced strips. Today's post was an original page made for the comic and the artworks from here on in are pretty wild. more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ONLINE ART COMIC PAGE 12

On this page of the HEY APATHY online comic, I continue to discuss my artistic motivations with the ghost of a long deceased musician. These scenes represent my internal dialogues and oddly personal exchange with the musicians I listen to. The power of these old recordings to actually speak to you is over whelming. Louis Armstrong always encourages me to travel. This particular dialogue is expresses my concerns towards a recently completed exhibition and  possibile illustrated manoeuvers in the near future. 

The online comic is one of three ongoing artistic endevours I am currently developing. Two of which are online strips, HEY APATHY! seen here, and MONSTER COMICS! at www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/Monster-Comics.html and the third is the larger scale fully illustrated comic book publications. I'll be presenting some of this new stuff at the wizard World Comic Con next month and hopefully at the Toronto Comic Con in June ( Submission pending)

Online Comic Page 11

So after reading the comics a coulpe of art student's are left confused and disgusted. However I myself was feeling optimistic and a little proud of my first installation... This is page twelve of my online comic in which a I discuss some one the triumphs and tribulations resulting form the showing. The internal dialogue, which I would have been having with myself while enjoying some gool old fashion Louis Armstrong jazz, is personified in these panels. Basically all throughout the comic I get "visitations" from the ghosts of dead artist's and musicians representative of the impact and influence they hae had on my train of thought.

The panel and the previous comics take place in the March of 2001, were I did my first drawing exhibition at the O.C.A.D. The show included about thirty smaller ink drawings and around six large 4 x 6 foot, illustrations. The show was divided into two symbols, the first of a nihilistic conglomeration of endlessly anonymous crowds fillinf a faceless metropolis. The second set of images depicted the sudden annihilation of these city scapes by an unseen apocalyptic force. The idea was sort of an optimistic warning, change our ways or else...

ONLINE COMIC PAGE TEN

ONLINE COMIC "STUDY BREAK" A story about science vs dreams, and staying up all night writing essays. This page is particularily interesting as in is one of the earliest depictions of a surrealist, pshycological split, manifesting itself pyshically. This "epiphany" has since become one of my most powerful and important symbols. Originally published and distributed as part of my first "HEY APATHY!" exhibition at O.C.A.D., March 2001

HEY APATHY! Artworks 2001-2009

HEY APATHY! This is a little chronological montage of my artworks from 2001-2009. The video describes the progression of the drawings over an extended period of time. The initial comics depict the city as a giant gear, propelled by hordes of faceless people. Each subsequent series brings the audience in for a closer examination of the city. The faceless crowds begin to identify themselves and we come to realize that it is in fact all the different kinds of people who make the gear grind. Simutaneous with the artworks, I also continued to move closer and closer and eventually became a part of the city. My earliest works were created in a suburban basement, then I moved into a Kensington Market Studio. Shortly after that I began studying in cafes and bars around downtown Toronto and eventually became a fully licensed professional street artist. HEY APATHY! has been expressed as drawings, gallery installations, murals, animations, fashion designs, and is currently being independently produced as an online comic and ongoing comic book series.

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGE THREE

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGE THREE: This page depicts the young anti-hero awaking suddenly from precognitive nightmares of an impending apocalypse. In a trance like moment of realisation, the little person leaves his bedroom and proceeds to his basement studio. Here he turns on some music, stands in the middle of a large sheet of paper and hand carves a pen out of bamboo. The ritual acts as like a seance, resurecting the spirit of the musician on the tape. Fully understanding the extent of the young artists inspiration, the spirit warns him of possible future threats. Despite these horrific premonitions the artist and ghost both agree that the drawings must be created, and the stories must be told.

I started drawing seriously around Dec 1999. At this time my focus was on creating surrealist horror comics, chop full of all kinds of nasty things (cannibal diners,witches etc.) However my objectives changed drastically the following winter. One evening I set out to start drawing when I found an old Beatles tape. The album documented the groups progression from pop stars to activists. I had an epiphany (symbolized by headlessness in the comics) and came to the realisation that if I was going to make comics, that they should be about real conflicts, and potentially have some sort of social value. Following this experience I started work on HEY APATHY!

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGES 1 & 2

HEY APATHY! So I've started posting pages of the online comic at www.twitter.com/onlinecomicbook. In the blog I'll post detailed accounts and essays about the pages. I'm a little behind as the comic is on page four already,but here it goes anyways...

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGE ONE: This is the opening scene of the comic, starting from a bird's eye view, the city reveals itself as a giant gear propelled by never-ending crowds of faceless people. This is the city of graves, apparently hopeless and completely surrounded by commuting inhabitants residing in uniform boxes. Psychic screams begin to cry out, calling us to the metropolis. The strange MONSTERS which reside in the unconscious act as sirens of the city.

I started work on these cityscape drawings in Dec. 2000. I had been creating short horror comics for a while already but decided to shift my attention towards real life (did you know there is a brown spot in the ocean bigger than some countries made of garbage?) . The series was divided between two stories, one of the city controlled by an illusion of conformity, and the other visions of the apocalypse, a warning that if we didn't change our ways we would inevitably be destroyed. The initial series included six large ink drawing, and 30 or 40 smaller works. I exhibited the initial installment in the O.C.A.D. drawing & painting showcase in March 2001, and again during the year end exhibition and scholarship competition (where the drawings won second prize) in April 2001. The ink stained Monster faces were created a year later ( Feb 02) as a series of rapid left handed studies. I made over 250 of these creature, primarily on off cut mat boards I got for free from a framing store. After completing the meticulous year-long study of the city, I needed to take a completely different approach to creating the artworks and resided to short, uncontrolled, scribble tests for about 2 months

HEY APATHY! ONLINE COMIC PAGE TWO: Here we see the surrounding housing units and all the little bubble people travelling to and from nowhere. We return to the Ariel view of the city and realize that we are inside the dreams of one of the little people. The dream sky turns red and the city is blown away by a hurricane like blast...

Following the initial presentation of HEY APATHY, I resided to continue the series for the duration of one year. During this time I created over 300 8"x10" drawings depicting the commute from to and from the city. These drawings were created with fine point technical pens on my daily bus & subway rides to the Ontario College of Art & De$ign. The apocalypse drawings were created in Feb. 2001 and perpetually through out the coarse of my one year study. The completed project consisted of approximately 30 large paintings & murals, over 300 small artworks, and 3 minutes of classically drawn animations. The exhibited also feature a 4 story skyline back drop made of sewn bed sheets and hand painted cartoon clouds.

HEY APATHY! O.C.A.D. Atrium Gallery Jan. 2002

Oh yeah and this wasn;t very funny