Crabapple by Franklin Einspruch (review)

Crabapple, like many of Franklin Einspruch's other webcomics at themoonfellonme.com, is a sort of haiku - a freshly observed moment that unfolds and unfolds. He is a painter and it shows in both the beautiful handling of watercolor (the lively lines, the careful blending of colors, the spontaneously precise rendering) and in the observations the pieces are about. He sees things but finds them by making.

What isn't expected is his startling ways of making these images and words into comics. He is frequently subtle and sneaky in how he makes the pictures underscore the text and vice versa. In Crabapple, the first image is of a brown, almost crispy bush. No background, a line of brown (maybe dead rotten brown or maybe soil, sleeping, maybe waiting).



In the next image: the bush again, still brown but with green leaves, pink blossoms and a green carpet underneath. What amazes is the sky - this tree has blue sky all around and through it. The first tree was alone, separate, dead but this one is alive, penetrated and one with the world.



The final images in the piece, two similar pictures of flowers and leaves on branches take this theme further. The color of the leaves bleeds into the branch marking them as un-separate, as one. (The images I'm presenting here are out of context - the actual piece has a lovely side-scrolling motion, revealing itself as you look.)




His lettering also adds to the effect. In the first (all brown) text area the break of "down" where its ascender reaches up for the descender in the "P" of "pull" mirrors the image of the maybe-dead bush. The next text, after that beautiful tree image, is blue like the sky. The final text is green like the sprouted leaves.



This piece, like many others he has made, has such fresh observations and thoughtful, subtle ways of finding the world by making, is the best apology he could give.

All images © Franklin Einspruch

"A Flame Expelled" online story and "The Best American Comics"

I'm happy to announce that recently my color story A Flame Expelled was published on Top Shelf Productions' Top Shelf 2.0 online comics anthology. You can read it for free here.

Thanks to Brett Warnock and Leigh Walton for publishing the story.

-----------------------------------




I'm also happy to announce that my book HOW TO BE EVERYWHERE was a "Notable Selection" in this year's edition of The Best American Comics, published by Houghton Mifflin and edited by Lynda Barry with Series Editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. Thanks to all of them for the recognition.

Amadora again

So here's my wrap-up of the trip:

First, Lisbon. It was great, and much better because I was hanging out with locals who took me all over the place. We talked a lot about art and comics and they showed me lots of new work I had never seen. Big awesome to Pedro who was my host (and the curator of the show I was in) for being so generous with his time.

I had learned a little Portuguese and even the tiny bit I retained helped a lot. A few times I was bear-hugged by folks so happy that I had bothered to try. I ate a lot of good food (mostly fish), drank a lot of wine and saw Lisbon from a very non-tourist perspective. My first night there Pedro took me to meet pals in some club. He led me into a seemingly abandoned building, then up rickety stairs, to what looked like a run-down office. Inside was a squatter punk club, and we sat around a table with pals drinking tiny beers and talking comics. But in the corner was an old man cutting hair - with a full barber setup, including mirror, lights, chair etc. Other old man came in and got their hair cut.

One morning we went to the beach and I went surfing. Cold, clear water, chest high strong waves and some really good surfers out. I floundered a lot, but got a couple rides.

The Festival itself was outside Lisbon in a suburb, and was a series of art shows, along with booksellers, artists signing things and an auditorium for panels. The shows were all euro-comics dominated and had original art from a variety of work, mostly commercial and competent if a little boring. There was an "erotic art" show with work from Milo Manara, whose comics were pretty, but whose paintings were horrible.



The show I was in, curated by Pedro Moura, stood out as something different. Go look at my Flickr set to see it, but all of us are definitely doing weird things in "comics". Fabio Zimbres (Brazil), who was there with me, had a wide variety of wonderfully drawn and sometimes painstakingly created pages. Ilan Manouach (Greece )had lovely pencil pages that formed discontinuous narratives. Frédéric Coché (France)had the original etchings he makes his books from, and in a clever bit they showed them on short pedestals, like they were on printing beds. Hye-Rim Lee (South Korea) had her work projected, which was nice to be able to walk into them. I had work from HOW TO BE EVERYWHERE, thickets and Jefferson Forest in frames.


a page from Fabio Zimbres - all the color bits are tiny cut pieces of paper.


I could quickly see why Pedro titled the show Divide et Impera - we all pull things apart and put them together in our work. This is the first show I've been in in a while where I was excited and amazed by all the other artists work. Later I'll write about the books I got from them in depth, but for now I can really recommend anything they have available.

Other than the shows there were bookshops where I bought a lot of stuff. I also sat to sign my books and draw pictures for people - believe it or not there were folks who were fans and asked me to sign things. I drew a lot of trees for people.


Fabio, Pedro and I at our panel. This was just as Pedro began beatboxing and singing Tony Bennett songs.


So, another hearty obrigado to everyone at Amadora for including my work and getting me there. Also big awesome to people I became friends with, especially Pedro and Fabio. Trips like this with people like this are powerful fuel for making work - I came home exhausted but eager to get drawing. I had already been planning some changes in focus for my practice, and the great experience of this trip just reinforced that conclusion.

Amadora

It was a good trip. Tons of pictures here.

Thursday: Drove to Dulles, flew away. Slept.

Friday: Changed clothes in the Amsterdam airport, another flight to Lisbon. Met Pedro and Ligia. Slept for an hour, then coffee and out with Pedro and Fernando. Down to the Baxia, then into a crazy club (run down, punk rock and an old man barber cutting other old men's hair). Met Fabio. Ate fish at a restaurant, talking comics. Another bar, Estaduim. Cab to hotel, sleep.

Saturday: Checked email, Pedro picked me up and hung out at his place with Fabio. Read new amazing comics I had never seen before. Lunch (fish), called wife and princess, then car to Amadora Festival. Signed books and drew pictures for people. Little kids asked for autograph! Buffet dinner, then bus to hotel, then drinks with Fabio, Jose and Fernando.

Sunday: Pedro and Yunsun picked Fabio and I up, we drove to the beach and I went surfing in Portugal! Then lunch (fish) and drove to Amadora Festival. Pedro, Fabio and I in a panel talk none came to see, so Pedro beatboxed and we drew. More signing books, drawing for people. Bus to Amadora city hall, banquet (not fish) with Fado singers and port wine. Bus to hotel, then more drinking with Fabi, Perdo etc. until l a t e. 1 hour of sleep.

Monday: Plane home. Transformers, Pan's Labyrinth.

More tomorrow about the show, the art and the peeps.

back from amadora

and boy are my arms tired. Full report tomorrow, but I will say that Lisbon is wonderful and full of good peeps. Also, Transformers is not such a bad movie.