Stripping by Lincøln
February 21st, 2010 5:16 AM / Location: 34.083385,-118.2952Well, no. I installed the first piece of this task on January 17th 2010.
I started work on it much much earlier, that date is lost to the ages, although it was probably sometime around September of 2008.
I thought of what kind of interval I'd use, spatial or temporal (or emotional, thanks Amoeba Man), and I got bogged down in trying to do this with ALL of those intervals. And I had plans for doing all of those, but chose simply Temporal.
Well, obviously there's a bit of spacial in there as well, there kinda can't not be, right?
OK, let's skip ahead to January 17th 2010.
I chose that date, because I had also chosen my location. There is a power junction box a little ways down from my theater in the middle of the sidewalk, I figured it would make a fine display for my comic strip.
And I knew I had to install my strips in the dead of night when I was less likely to be witnessed. And on Saturday nights at my theater we have a show that starts at 11:00pm, and we wind up staying at the theater well into Sunday morning after the show. So I chose to do it early Sunday morning after the Saturday show.
And since there are six weeks worth of shows in a row, I decided to make my comic strip six issues long. So that after every show in the cycle, I could sneak out in the dead of night and post a new strip every week.
Also in keeping with the theme I decided to make each strip six panels long. I was inspired by the best book ever written, Watchmen (don't worry, I'm not trying to compare my work here with that piece of literary genius) in structure.
So six panels, six strips over six weeks. This is what I did.
Week One:
Week Two:
Week Three:
Week Four:
Week Five:
Week Six:
I would also like to note that I drew all of the panels by hand with an ink pen on standard white copy paper. I affixed the strips to the box using wheatpaste that I learned to make specifically for this task. So far I rather enjoy using wheatpaste.
Although I'm going to have to do some more testing with the unfamiliar substance. I don't like how fast these strips have faded in just the six weeks it took me to complete the task.
And I uploaded large files, so you can click any of these open and get pretty ridiculous detail if you'd like.
*Update*
2-24-10
I went to my theater on Wednesday night to do some set construction and while my friend went out for a cigarette break, I went to go check on my strips. I found this:
I guess the city painted over it.
So now it only exists here on SFØ.
And in our hearts.
Let's please to to remember it like this:
20 vote(s)
Jellybean of Thark
4
Waldo Cheerio
5
Sombrero Guy
5
Electra Fairford
4
Spidere
3
Markov Walker
4
artmouse
3
Rin Brooker
5
rongo rongo
3
Daniel Fuller
5
K
5
Ben Yamiin
3
Loki
4
Young Cain
5
done
5
Ty Ødin
4
Brock Dubbels
5
David Hayman
5
Bex.
4
anna one
Terms
(none yet)16 comment(s)
I feel punished and educated by this. I walked past that recently, saw stuff posted on it, and actively chose *not* to investigate because I was in a hurry. I *hate* being in a hurry, and normally insist on indulging my curiosities as they arise, even if it means being more late. I now have another reason to stand by my principles.
I like the punchlines.
I kept hoping one of you, or anybody I know who regularly passes this box would somehow mention the comic slowly getting larger every week.
Maybe somebody I know who has never seen this site will recognize it as my work now...
Oh also, when I posted this, I got a pop-up announcement:
Kind of appropriate.
"I don't like how fast these strips have faded in just the six weeks it took me to complete the task."
my favorite element of this praxis was how the previous weeks' strips had each faded in a near uniform manner based on how long they'd been posted; not to mention contributed to by other Graffitos as well as the wheat paste soiling/molding from the first week's strip downward.
its various states of decay render it far more intriguing than if they were all pristine and legible. i've never really encountered a comic that displayed any ephemeral characteristics !
Don't get me wrong, I too love how each strip has faded for this task.
When I said I didn't like how fast they faded, I was thinking about other applications. I plan on using wheatpaste in the future, perhaps to post things I'd like to be a bit more permanent. And for those purposes I'd like to figure out how to make it not fade or soil/mold over time.
Do you think the fading is related to the wheatpaste, or just the ink? I see xeroxed fliers that don't seem to fade as much as handwritten ones, so my guess is that if you draw something, then xerox it, and paste up the xerox, it might fade less.
The soil/mold seems like it might be related to the paste, but possibly also the paper. (I thought that Shepard Fairey's stuff was also wheatpasted up, but the pieces I've seen don't seem to have any mold.)
I put a coat over the finished comic to (maybe) protect it from the elements, but I think there's a combination of the ink fading off of the paper and the wheatpaste soiling/molding.
I'm just going to have to run more tests to see.
I did affix an LAØ logo in full color that was printed with an inkjet, we'll see how that goes.
Use archival ink and wallpaper paste next time.
I like the story, even though it's simple. Now I feel like a bum. Maybe I should get up and go out...
Also, I'm confused: how is this inspired by Watchmen?
I tried to keep the story simple on purpose, I'm glad you enjoyed.
It is only similar to Watchmen in layout. Keeping a consistent 6 frame panel.
Not that Watchmen had six panels, but their nine panel grid that was held consistent throughout the books helped to tell the tale temporally. A panel left with no dialogue in a nine panel grid carries more weight than if the panels were different on every page.
I'm glad it took the city over six weeks before killing it. I really wanted to document it fading over time. :(
Damn, but that comment was more exciting when I read it as "it took over the city six weeks before killing it". Massive points for any praxis that actually does that.
Not yet having read the comic; I'm voting and giving this the full five. I do this solely on the photo of the junction box.
I walk past that junction box a lot. At the very least twice a day on Saturdays. The most recent being something like two hours previous to typing this. Moving through the city, I see and seek a lot of what gets pasted on to things, and am a little upset with myself for having never seen this thing. This thing, which a friend of mine so blatantly put somewhere I would see it regularly.
And sometimes, I ramble.