Arty Things

There's a new post up on Diderot's Photo Blog with some really interesting guerrilla art involving a wonderful mash-up of past and present social issues. It's really worth checking out. I felt a little self conscious about the Oil Spill comic I just posted, I am never sure about making work about things I feel passionately about, I don't want to risk losing narrative credibility by being overly emotional. So it was really great to be in such good company. In an age where people fall back on automated 100 word status updates to express themselves and contribute to a cultural dialogue it's nice to see people turning upsetting situations into something more constructive.
Tonight I went to see Daniel Clowes speak at a local independent bookstore and he was really great. He said something to the effect of that the images he makes are ideas that immediately embarrass him when he first thinks them up. I think that's a good art-making policy.
His new book, Wilson is a haunting collection of existential one-liners merging sweetness with weirdness. I love it but it makes me want to read Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron again, because it's longer and even weirder.

So check out that blog and read some Dan Clowes, ok?

(Cover via Amazon.com)