reading notes

by Chris Sickels (Red Nose Studio)
ISBN: 9781581809404

The form factor and presentation say a children’s book (and the Library of Congress says “juvenile literature”) but this has a creepy vibe to it that is a bit at odds with that expectation. I think that is a good thing; the tilted, not quite right nature of the story and images worked for me. To be fair, they’d probably work for the right kind of kid, too.

Good children’s books aren’t just cutesy. They are disarming, so can reach deep and touch grownups who are open-minded enough to read them (think Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree), or are full of wry and not just laugh out loud humor (think The Very Persisten Gappers of Frip). I really liked this book, but I’m not saying it reaches the level of those two — they are two of my favorite books — though it is several steps in the direction of Frip.

The word play that drives the story (“Ian saw a bird soar overhead” “Ann saw a bird with a sore head”) lends itself to some gory but fun illustrations. (You really notice the red with the saturated colors.) The illustrations are handmade miniatures, photographed at interesting angles and depths of focus.

If you have an odd kid in your life, or know a grownup who was an odd kid, they might appreciate this book and its amusing story about overcoming boredom.

by Rosamond Wolff Purcell
ISBN: 0879233184

Though I don’t know Purcell’s work well, I’ve been aware of her for a long time, as her subject matter — cabinet of curiosities kind of stuff, eery and disturbingly beautiful — is something I find compelling. She’s on my mental list of artists I want to learn more about, whose work I want to spend time with. So when I found this early volume on sale in a used bookstore, I snapped it up.

What I find fascinating about these images is that so many of them seem to have multiple layers, they invite long looks and investigation. It’s not how they were made, it’s the end result that holds my attention. While technique can be interesting, knowing how an image was made doesn’t make me interested in a photograph if nothing was sparked when I first looked at it. That said, I find it remarkable that most of these weren’t double exposures, but cleverly created single exposures. (Since this book was published in 1980, they obviously weren’t digital manipulations.)

If this level of creativity and exploration of what is possible is what she created early in her career, I have much to look forward to as I get to know Purcell’s later work.