Tuesday, July 22, 2008

What it is

What It Is What It Is by Lynda Barry


My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
The revoloooshunary out there book of the day

When you were a kid, did you have a toy that knew you? Were your toys alive? Did the wallpaper have secret shapes that only you knew about? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then you already have experienced the state of mind this book will help you find again. If not, it will help you discover it. Lynda Barry's "What it is" takes you into the state of mind where images are allowed to play and find form. This early part contains many fascinating insights and brilliant, evocative art that synthesizes drawing, writing, found text, found handwriting, pictures, ephemera, altered images into collages--yet there is a statement, question or story to each page that takes you deeper into inner space.

Later, there are a few exercises for practicing the ability to summon up the right "space" and then how to figure out what should go there; what questions to ask while you are there and what not to do. Some of the exercises contain common wisdom of many writers, yet the marvelous, rich illustrations, the friendly and unfriendly image-companions make the experience stimulating and you want to try the writing starts even if you have done something similar before.

If you've never written anything or have given up, you will find it helpful and possibly revolutionary. It may also help if you've stopped drawing or routinely throw out your "doodles" to give yourself permission to follow your pen wherever it goes after images whether drawn or written. I got this book from the library, but I plan to buy it as I know that any given page will say something new to me another day that I will want to use. I want to buy it for a lot of my friends who write or are artists or both.

Lynda Barry is best known for her "Ernie Pook's Comeek" that cohabited in the Village Voice and other alternative papers with the work of Matt Groening and Jules Pfeiffer.



View all my reviews.

1 comment:

B.R. said...

This looks good. I'll check it out. Thx.
Oh, there's a new good read out on the Oxford English Dictionary...., you might like...