3. One! Hundred! Demons!, Lynda Barry
Sep. 14th, 2007 09:35 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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50books_poc(For anyone who's as literal as I am, I will first note that only around 20 demons are included in the book.)
Lynda Barry started on the project of painting a hundred of her personal demons after reading about an artistic exercise based on a Zen monk's scroll of a hundred demons. Those appearing in the book have background stories, mostly from her childhood and connecting to her experience as a multiracial person -- Barry is a redhead and generally seems to be able to pass, but her Filipino family doesn't just disappear: "Dean tried to say it wasn't my mom, how could it be my mom, the lady wasn't even shouting in English." Men in the childhood world seem to be confined to drive-by abusers, bullies, and objects of desire, though later Barry has acquired a husband. Her mother is terrifying, but she has a good relationship with her live-in grandmother, a pattern apparently common in her family. I found it painful in places, but still funny and engaging.
Barry's cartooning style ranges from simple black-and-white brushwork to watercolor with collage elements, some three-dimensional. Some samples of her work are at marlysmagazine.com. One Hundred Demons is fairly elaborate, with glued-on fake flowers and origami insects on colored cartoons. I love her stuff and have a couple more books coming from the library soon.
Lynda Barry started on the project of painting a hundred of her personal demons after reading about an artistic exercise based on a Zen monk's scroll of a hundred demons. Those appearing in the book have background stories, mostly from her childhood and connecting to her experience as a multiracial person -- Barry is a redhead and generally seems to be able to pass, but her Filipino family doesn't just disappear: "Dean tried to say it wasn't my mom, how could it be my mom, the lady wasn't even shouting in English." Men in the childhood world seem to be confined to drive-by abusers, bullies, and objects of desire, though later Barry has acquired a husband. Her mother is terrifying, but she has a good relationship with her live-in grandmother, a pattern apparently common in her family. I found it painful in places, but still funny and engaging.
Barry's cartooning style ranges from simple black-and-white brushwork to watercolor with collage elements, some three-dimensional. Some samples of her work are at marlysmagazine.com. One Hundred Demons is fairly elaborate, with glued-on fake flowers and origami insects on colored cartoons. I love her stuff and have a couple more books coming from the library soon.
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Date: 2007-09-15 04:45 am (UTC)BTW, I've been reading Barry's cartoons for a long time. "Poodle with a mohawk" is classic -- and short enough to quote. I like the way she's been able to do more and more personal stuff as time goes on. (Well, I don't KNOW that she didn't have a punk poodle at one time.)
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Date: 2007-09-15 05:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-10 04:05 am (UTC)