What fever dream did I just read?
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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I love the little demon guy just like "Hey riding that cart looks fun. Ima do it."
That's Whim. He's a sorta freaky fascist overlord wizard. Not precisely evil, but definitely not a healthy guy to be around.
Are you the artist?
No. The artist is Jim Woodring.
Thanks. Will check him out.
I like him already.
I'm on the fence here.
On the one side, I love weird dream-logic fantasy worlds inhabited by strange and interesting characters. It's like taking your frontal lobe to the dayspa.
On the other hand, I don't enjoy searching for deeper meaning when the creator is being deliberately opaque and nonsensical. Absurdist art should come with a warning, "This ain't gone make no damn sense."
Like, imagine if you showed up to work on your first day, and it was a day spa, and your boss was just getting a massage. You don't know what you're supposed to do, so you spend the first day anxious and confused, and still you have no explanation. You ask what is going on, what you're expected to do or learn from the situation, and everyone you meet wordlessly gestures broadly at the situation. "What is wrong withme?" you ponder while the world around you unfolds at its own pace.
Eventually, you might catch on that you're not supposed to do anything, learn anything, or examine anything for allegories or metaphors. But now it's too late, the experience is tainted by feelings of inadequacy and frustration. Instead of enjoying the art for what it is, you resent it for what it isn't.
So yeah, I guess I'm saying don't overthink it. Because I did, and I'm not having any fun.
I don't try to hard to make sense. I mostly just enjoy the vibe. If coherent concepts percolate out, cool. If they don't, also cool.
I enjoy that, when I know that's what I'm supposed to do. But I also enjoy layered meanings and puzzles. It's like one of those magic eye posters, where you squint at it, and nothing appears and you realize it's just a Jackson Pollack painting. Like yes, I appreciate the art for what it is, the totality of the experience and the nuance of the interplay between colors and textures. But also, I just spent ten minutes staring at it cross eyed thinking there was going to be a schooner.
If you really want "the right answer", look here:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_(comics)
- https://mindlessones.com/2008/05/09/fraaoooooooooiiiiink-detourning-the-dream-factory/
But these stories are highly subjective. Like a vision quest, like a mystic hallucination, although there's no right way to feel about them, they might have a message for you personally. Read them and think about what they mean to you: how do YOU feel about each character, and about what happens in the stories? Because that's the real right answer.
frank
;)
Frank made a deal with the devil 😈
This is awesome
btw if you dig these type of surreal comics, check out [email protected]. Explanation here: https://analognowhere.com/log/
This is pretty great. Thanks.
