The Lawrence Public Library’s Banned Books Week trading card series has had a great deal of success both locally and nationally, so it seemed prudent to make a mention of it here, since I was one of the artists selected for inclusion in the set. In fact, today’s the day that my card is available for free– just stop in the library and ask for a copy! Here’s what I had to say about my piece with the entry…
This piece reflects the vibe I get from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. When I last reread it in 2004, I was struck by how similar descriptions in the book were to happenings in the world today. Not just by how many of the party phrases in the book sounded eerily similar to sound bites coming out of the Bush administration, but also in Orwell’s descriptions of cubicle-filled workspaces and rundown infrastructure.
Dale has been creating original comics for most of his life. He currently publishes a weekly webcomic at http://www.watusithethalkingdog.com that is nothing like this piece.
This isn’t the first time Nineteen Eighty-Four has influenced me as an artist, either. Eight years ago I produced a series of portraits pairing government figures with an appropriate quote from Orwell’s novel. Due to those previously mentioned similarities, it was a project that pretty much wrote itself. They’ve exhibited as a set only a couple of times before, so it seems like a good opportunity to give them another showing. Just view the gallery and prepare to become unsettled…
Smeary Soapbox Press 