Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Print Ephemera #1: Sirk Comics


The following images come from early "picture books" created by Frank Santoro, who's now well-known for Storeyville and Cold Head Comics. These, however, date from an earlier period (early 90s), when Santoro nursed a fixation with the imagery and lingo of Douglas Sirk films and Mezz Mezzrow's great book Really the Blues. The loose look of Sirk comics owes much to the old two-color copiers they were printed on. The machine's inaccurate registration caused a cool randomness, and the multiple passes required to achieve layered color create an effect not unlike that of silk screen printing. The drawings themselves recall the work of Raymond Pettibon and Gary Panter.




1 comment:

Frank Santoro said...

Nice.

Um, it's Cold Heat - although Cold Head sounds like a good title too.